Beginning of Judgment
by Geia Akyama
Summary: The Madness has stopped finally in Nevada, everything has quieted down for Hank J. Wimbelton and the survivors but there's still one final reckoning to deal with. Final Judgment is on the way and Hank's going to need the help fixing this little problem.
1. Chapter 1

Somewhere in Southern California, late summer-early fall 1:30 PM

Amos looked out the bullet proof window shield of the Garda truck and flipped the visor down to block the sun that was stabbing his brown eyes through the clouds overhead as his driver guided the behemoth into the red zone in front of a chain of stores that went by the name Vons in this area of the state. Why it was Safeway everywhere else in America was beyond the him and frankly it didn't matter, it wasn't his job to wonder why store's had the names they did, his task was to keep an eye on the new trainee and his mentor for the day while they refilled the cash boxes for the ATM's and Coin star machines. With so much money both in the truck and potentially grabbed until the machine was locked up properly it was necessary for a guy to sit shotgun and watch what was going on, literally. The clouds were moving in steadily and according to the news it was going to rain tonight all across the county, something that was desperately needed with the approaching fire season.

"So, uh, it's really alright for me to handle this one by myself? Nothing's going to happen right?"

Rick stuck his head through the small door that was the only way to get from the front to the back of the truck and looked nervously from Tom to Amos and back. The young man had reddish brown hair, blue-green eyes and a splash of freckles all over his boyish face that reminded the ex-733t of a cousin he'd had back before the Drives had been turned on by the Sheriff. The cousin was long dead now, flattened by a train that had flown across a canyon while he'd been vacationing with his parents somewhere in the Basin and Range area in northwest Nevada. There was no way they could have known what was going to happen to them on that day, back then it was hard enough just to live through a day without getting shot at. That unpredictability had ended thirteen years ago after the last of the Improbability Drives had been destroyed and everything restored to normal or mostly normal, the long term effects of the Drives were still being dealt with.

"Of course nothing's going to happen Ricky. I'm going be right beside you for support if you need it, I've done this hundreds of times and the worst that's ever happened is a little kid throwing up because he ate too much. Come on kid get the stand ready so I can just pop the back open and we can get this done."

Tom smiled broadly at the new recruit after his little statement and pulled the parking brake in front of the store and looked at his gunman before nodding at Amos and stepping outside There were a lot of people here at this time, most of them were just going around their business and gave the armored truck only a cursory look before hurrying past the brown truck without a second glance. Amos watched as Rick and Tom wheeled their cargo out of the truck and to the green machine just inside the store under Amos's watchful eye. The whole process took less eight minutes to change out the containers in both the ATM and the Coin star machines with the trainee looking both relieved and triumphant.

When both men got back in the truck Amos finally relaxed all the way and drummed his fingers on the shotgun stock as Thom flicked on the radio, only halfway through their day and the new guy was finally looking a lot less nervous. Tom coaxed the engine to life and the truck glided out of the fire lane and out of the parking lot on their way to their next assigned stop. Silence stretched like taffy in the truck until the driver shot a glance at Amos with a wry smile on his face.

"Heh. Hey Amos I know you're not the kind of guy to just let the cat out of the bag but when are you going to start dating that girl, Valerie was it? She's a bit young but man that's one fine ass you got living with you if you know what I mean and I think you do."

The driver wiggled his eyebrows at his passenger and took one hand off the wheel to outline a woman's figure in the air and pantomimed squeezing the key aspects of the figure the older man's mild disgust.

"Oh come on Tom It's not like that! She's half my age and going to school at that, besides who wants to get married to an old man like me. And it's Valarie not Valerie."

"Val-Er-ee, Val-AR-ee. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Beside fifty is the new thirty according to those magazines my wife reads all the time, Vogue or something like that. Top that off with the fact that you don't look a day over 31 and you could have any woman you wanted, you got all the qualities they look for."

Amos shook his head and frowned. He couldn't deny that he looked remarkably good for his age, six feet tall and built like a linebacker without any silver or gray hairs or the wrinkles that came with the passage of time. Not only that but he hadn't slowed down at all as far as his physical ability, he still went to a firing range every week to maintain his skills with firearms and held his own against guys half his age in the company wrestling matches.

"You're Intelligent, strong, got a stable income, you can cook, full head of near black hair. The gals at the office say you're smoking hot according to the ladies at work..."

Amos jumped in his seat and glared at Tom after that last comment, he did not want to hear another list of the women who wanted to land him! It was trying enough to deal with VAL's little fits of joy, irritation, and excitement; he did not want to have to handle two women at once if he could possibly avoid it.

"Hey hey, none of that in front of Rick. Besides even if I was interested, which I'm not, she's out of my league even if you ignored the obvious."

The trainee stuck his head into the cab at that moment and looked at Amos. He'd heard of Valarie from Tom and even saw a picture of the girl the gunman's' locker while they'd waited for Amos to get his gear on. She had purple hair and a red dress on and the bluest eyes he'd ever seen on a girl.

"Is something wrong with her? She looked really cute in that dress with her hair dyed."

Tom chuckled as he pulled out into an intersection and aimed the truck at the on ramp, just one look at Amos and he knew the guy was about to tell the kid off. Amos really treated the girl like his kid sister more than a love interest which often meant that he scared off most of the men her age. She was a really nice girl who needed a man in her life closer to her age and Amos's other roommate, Salvatore, seemed more interested in his work than in women even if he was only in his mid thirties.

"Valerie is with Kenitel, one of the telepathi that popped up since the Drives were shut down and a pretty strong one too."

Amos flipped his visor down and looked at Rick in the back with the little mirror pinned there to see how the young man reacted. Most people who found out that someone was a part of Kenitel backed away both emotionally and physically under a false belief that their minds would be read and controlled by that person in question which was really stupid since on ten percent of the population had enough ability to qualify as telepathi.

In general all the psi ability on the planet was attributed to weak empathy, clairvoyance, and the ability to sense the spirits of the dead which over half of the world's population had, according to the reports he'd heard from VAL. For that ten percent that COULD dabble in thought control strict regulations had been put in place to protect the masses from just such an invasion of privacy and yet another set to reign in the even smaller percent of telekinetics.

"Really? Can't tell by looking at her, she looks so normal. Hope I get to meet her."

The truck pulled onto the highway and Amos flicked the radio on as they merged into the right lane with a small smile on his face. He considered himself a pretty good judge of character and this kid seemed pretty honest not to mention nice. The clouds had gotten a bit thicker and darker since they'd left Vons and to the north it looked like it was about to rain, both VAL and Salvatore loved the rain.

"Then you probably will meet her, she somehow manages to be everywhere at once. Just don't say anything about dying her hair, it's her natural color if you can believe it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Residential Neighborhood, Southern California 5PM

"I can't believe I gotta wait till the second week in November to get them! Why can't they just start selling the tickets the day after it closes for next year, it would be a lot easier for me than all this waiting. Augh and I still have to make everything for it too."

VALKYRIE pushed herself away from her desktop computer and leaned back in her chair to help it roll a little closer to her bed where a small dog had curled up after wadding her jacket up into a neat little nest. Sensing the girls' approach the terrier lifted his head and flicked his ears back at the unexpected outburst and blinked at her with intelligent brown eyes. The dog wasn't hers but she did help take care of him cus that was the right thing to do, he had no thumbs to do things like get more food when he emptied his bowl or open doors so he could go outside and do his business.

"Sorry Deeoh, I didn't mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep, I'm just gonna get my school stuff ready for tomorrow then I'll start making dinner, okay?"

As if he understood the fox terrier put his chin on his paws and sighed deeply before closing his eyes to get back to his nap. If it weren't for the tan and black markings on his head he'd blend in perfectly with the white jacket he had claimed as his temporary bed.

The violet haired woman scratched the dog behind his exactly ears the way he liked and flicked her monitor off before getting up to unload her backpack and replace the books from her chemistry classes with her history ones and dropped the bag near her bedroom door where her yoga mat was neatly rolled up for tomorrow.

She was only a part time student at the nearby college and when she wasn't doing her class work or doing chores around the house she was either working as a bartender, tinkering on something, training, or sleeping herself out from being so busy. Not that she minded it much if she wanted to get her dream job she needed all this useless crap now so she could do what she wanted later which was to work with Pixar as a CG artist.

It was a general rule that whoever was home at five would be responsible for making dinner since Amos, Sal and herself had such varied schedules; hers was the most flexible if chaotic, Amos had steady work but did get off early on occasion, and Sal often had Friday off in addition to the weekends if his boss didn't send him home early. Now if only she could cook well enough to have her meals considered more than just fodder.

As she made her way to the kitchen the petite woman passed the living room and took a deep appreciative sniff, when it was humid Salvatore's mango-wood vase really got good and smelly like BBQ potato chips and she just couldn't get enough of that smoky smell. The petite woman smirked as the vase jumped from its place and into her hands and made her way to the small kitchen with her smelly prize.

She dropped the vase on the counter next to the stove and cracked the freezer open to see what there was to fix quickly and that she wouldn't burn but the pickings were kind of slim at the moment. There were bags of frozen vegetables, nuts, cheese, and a small array of meats that would take a day to thaw before they could be used. VAL abandoned the freezer and opened the fridge which didn't offer that much more as far as a menu but something did smell like it had gone bad in there.

Deeoh up behind VAL and yawned as she picked leftovers and sat to watch what his third favorite human was doing. She systematically picked through bags of salad mix and a few containers from the past couple of nights before she found the rotten item, whatever it had been it was covered in hairy white mold now and it positively reeked! What was worse whatever it was hadn't even been used; the little strip of red tape that held the container closed was intact.

With the offending item in hand VAL stood up and kicked the refrigerator closed as she walked through the house to the trashcans in the back; looking at the container maybe the stuff had been a fruit once by the shape, maybe strawberries? the trashcan opened before VAL was anywhere near it and the lid dropped back into place after she threw the furry fruit inside it, sometimes being a Kinetic had its perks especially when she was handling some really unsavory things like bad food, Deeoh's presents, and the guys underpants on laundry day.

Inside the house the terrier started barking up a storm at the phones and with a casual thought VAL held her hand out to catch the phone she'd called to her. No need to run to a phone if you could bring a cordless one to you on command~! One look at the caller id and VAL picked up the call before the third ring, it was Jacob.  
>"Hello. Valarie speaking."<p>

"Hey Valarie are you doing anything right now?"

Valarie was the name she'd chosen for herself after she and Amos had been liberated from one of the Auditor's facilities over 13 years ago by the Anti AAHW. She'd been a curiosity to them, something they'd only heard about in info leaks from terminated Deserters and she'd been more than happy to stay with them as long as they didn't try to experiment on or kill her as Audy had tried to do at the very end of her time in that facility. The higher ups really didn't trust her much but that was alright now that Kenitel was around with its community of telepathi who knew exactly the trouble she'd gone through to get where she was today more or less.

"Not really, what's up?"

"Oh the usual only worse. You know Diana who runs the bars on your days off? She just called and said she was stuck at the DMV, something about her tags being stolen. She's already been there for two hours and they still haven't gotten to her, I've been calling a few people but they're either busy or hammered out of their minds because of the weekend celebration. Is it at all possible for you to come in today and cover her shift?"

"Well of course I can! How soon do you want me cus I could drive and be there in ten to fifteen minutes or I can ditch the car completely and be there in seconds once I get my stuff together."

Jacob sounded relieved as Val quickly shed her house clothes and shimmied into her work uniform one handed. Her roommates had just been saved by fate from her cooking and she'd escaped the horror of trying not to melt a pan to the stove by accident. As far as being the classic lady of the house she fell terribly short of the mark by preferring to dress in over sized clothes that were usually white, fixing and taking things apart at her workbench, and not being able to cook more than a few things to save her life and even then she could only really make desserts perfectly.

"Ten to fifteen is fine, wouldn't want you getting into trouble on your way here by doing something you're not allowed to do. Thanks Val you're a lifesaver."

"I try. See ya in a bit~!"

Val waited to hear her boss kill the call before she hung up and frantically wrestled into her way into her work shoes while picking up the keys to her lime green Beetle and walking. All the while Deeoh trailed miserably after the only person in the house with his tail down and his head hanging as the terrier realized that he was going to be left alone again. The dog even went so far as to sit on VAL's purse to make her stay while she scribbled a quick note for his owner to read when he got home, then he'd had to get off the purse at the violet haired woman's urgings.

"Oh I'm sorry Dee but I really gotta go now. No worries though, your daddy's gonna be home in an hour or less then you get to run around all you want and play with him. Bah-bye~!"

VALKYRIE rushed out the front door and locked it as quickly as she could on her way to her little car. Unlike Amos and Sal she didn't need all that much room to park since she drove a new Beetle but that also meant she couldn't drive if they all wanted to go somewhere which was fine with her. The little woman got a little car and whenever Sal was forced to ride with her she got to watch him cram himself into it like some kind of lanky monkey or circus clown.

Halfway to the restaurant Valarie realized she'd forgotten her phone on the kitchen counter and swore a blue streak at the next intersection that turned red. She needed that phone just in case there was an emergency and it was too late to go back and get it! But then she didn't HAVE to turn around to get her phone now did she?

With a wry smile VAL calmed her thoughts and visualized what she wanted before calling the cell phone to her and about a foot to the right so she wouldn't be startled while driving by having it fall into her lap. She looked in the passenger seat and smiled as her phone popped into existence right where she wanted it and fell onto the seat. Damn she loved being a Telekinetic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Southern California, Downtown business. 5:58PM

Salvatore stretched with his arms over his head as the clocked slowly ticked away the seconds until six. He'd been working since nine and he'd just finished Mrs. Garza's letter that she'd be sending to one of her client's tomorrow. The lawyer had left an hour ago and Sal being who and what he was had stayed at his desk typing until his shift ended. It had been tempting to just leave after her though, he felt strange in his own Skin today.

When the wall clock finally clicked its way to six o'clock he packed up all his things and locked the office on his way out to the elevator. Because he was usually one of the last to leave he got an elevator all to himself until he got to his car in the parking garage connected to the building which suited him perfectly on days like this when the clouds hung heavily in the sky and the air was pushing on his skin with the promise of rain. He really dint want to stop and talk with everyone while it felt like his Skin was trying to peel away from his body. Sal looked up at the cloud shrouded sky and smiled at the rain filled masses he saw, it would start raining soon and if the weathermen were right there would be thunderstorms too.

At this time of day it was easy to find his 2008 Toyota Camery even it it was black like half the other cars here, his car was the only one with a sprite sitting on the hood who's sole job was to keep the brakes from sticking and forcing the car to accelerate at an alarming and often deadly rate. The hand sized thing was indebted to him after a small incident with Tricky over thirteen years ago and as long as he gave the little faerie a better home than she didn't mind being stuck in a car for eight hours a day.

Sal smiled at the little creature and took part of a muffin he'd been saving on the hood, the sprite could feed itself of course but it was best to keep her happy by making sure she didn't have to fend for herself on a regular basis. Thank god the secretary that brought muffins and bagels in every morning from a bakery that was strictly organic or he'd have to use his lunch break to get something for little K'mar.

"They only had the muffins with nuts in them left Kammy, but at least there's nothing artificial in it."

The little mute nodded at her protector and finished the offering quickly before flitting to the bottom of the car which is how she got in position to keep things working as they should. It took all her ability to keep the car form doing something it shouldn't but when she got them to their home she had a little corner of his room to herself with a bed, warmth, and good food.

The only reason he had K'mar under his wing was because Tricky was actually able to do the beings of the Nevernever some serious damage once he implanted the PID in his skull. The dewdrop sprite had been bleeding and near death after the clown had killed Hank by shoving him off a cliff no thanks to a careless swipe of the demonic clowns claws. Until released the sprite had to do his bidding until her life debit was repaid or he released her from his service, likely he'd release her form service eventually because such a small creature couldn't do much to save him from death.

The trip home was blessedly uneventful even if his palms itched as he was forced to slow down on the highway because of rush hour traffic. Every day it was the same thing, everyone got off work at the same time and rushed home as fast as they could only to get caught in traffic on the way, some of the drivers, like himself, were lucky to only live twenty minutes from work so even with the rush he back on residential streets after only forty five minutes. Two minutes after that he was pulling into the driveway of a beat up looking green house that he rented with two other people who had contact with him during the commonly acknowledged Nevada Incident.

Sal smiled as he pushed the button to open the garage and chuckled at the symphony of frantic howls and yips that greeted the squealing protests of the old garage opener. It sounded like it was going to die any week now but since he and the others only rented this house the only way it was going to get fixed or replaced was if the owner got off her fat ass and approved of the Property managers suggestions. Not that it was likely to happen; the woman was more interested in stuffing her face and filling her gut than to improve the properties she owned.

This house for example still had the original oven, made by General Motors, from when the place had been built in the 1960's, there were painfully obvious signs of termite damage on the exterior and in the fence that surrounded the back yard and to top it all off the house looked like it should have been repainted well over twenty years ago. Those were just the problems you could see if you walked past the poorly maintained property.

What you didn't see was that the roof in the back leaked when it rained for more than two days and the bougainvillea the owner had planted right next to the front door had grown over roof so much that it made a little lake up there instead of allowing the water to drain into the rusty gutters, the flimsy covering on the back porch flapped and threatened to blow away when the wind gusted over 15MPH and thanks to the age of the place the foundation had settled to the point that it was imposable to use the sink disposal without clogging the pipes because the grade was close to level.

The southern Italians thoughts were interrupted when the car bumped gently into the brick thoughtfully placed to keep him from getting closer to the workbench in the back of the garage than entirely necessary. Valarie liked to tinker with things and she'd taken over the back of the garage with her tools, materials and wires, what she did exactly was a mystery but he had no desire to tell her off, she rarely listened anyway.

The man pulled the parking brake and killed the engine to the melody of the constants shrieks from the dog inside the house wanting to be let told the Italian all he needed to know, if someone had been home Deeoh would only be shoving his nose in the crack of the door instead of making a fuss like he'd been left alone for hours. The olive skinned man smiled and closed the large wooden door before getting out of the car and positioning himself between the door to the house and the water heater, Deeoh's record was two minutes maybe this time the four year old terrier would find him faster.

With a yank he opened the door and watched as the white tan and black Fox terrier tore out of the kitchen and leaped into the car to find his owner while Sal bit his cheek to keep from laughing as the upright white tail disappeared between the front seats. Without a moment to waste Sam ran around the interior door and ran into the house to hide, one of these days Deeohgee would find him standing behind the door but until then their little game of Hide and Seek would continue this way.

He got down the hall to the bedrooms and into Amos's room before he heard the telltale scratching of the fox terriers nails on the linoleum of the kitchen he had only moments left to get out of sight! The black haired man vaulted over the full sized bed and landed on the farthest side of it away from the door and hunched down between the bed and the wall while his pet tore through the living room on his mission to find his chosen owner. Sal could just hear the dogs' antics as he searched every room at a breakneck pace, even going so far as to stick his nose into the ex-733t's room for a moment before scrambling to search the bathrooms.

Salvatore suppressed a chuckle as the fox terrier whined during his search and called the dogs name to get him focused on the search again and this time the dog tore through the master bedroom and crawled under the ex-733t's bed to get to his owner faster. The dogs' short tail wagged furiously as he leaped into his owners' arms and licked every bare patch of skin he could reach while the man stood up and tossed the dog onto the bead and rolled him over playfully.

"Deeoh you nut it took you almost three minutes to find me this time. Sometimes I wonder if you use your nose at all or maybe I really don't have enough of a smell compared to the others. Or maybe you were too excited to track me, I bet that was it. You can track a rat no problem but you can't track me if I'm the first person home."

Their play graduated from roughhousing to chasing as heavy drops of rain splattered against the windows when Deeoh ran off into the living room and back to Sal with a ball in his mouth while the dark skinned man took his tie and jacket off. For the next ten minutes the rubber ball bounced off the walls and furniture to the dogs' frantic joy and Sal's amusement. At last Deeoh dropped the blue racquetball and panted heavily as he walked over to his masters' bed and threw himself to the floor by Salvatore's feet. Now that the excess energy had been burned off Sal could finally get out of his confining clothes and get into something much more comfortable before he shed his Skin completely.

It had been months since he'd walked around without it on and he was dying to feel the rain on his true form. By now he could hear thunder rumbling in the distance and the sounds of the cars and birds was a muted buzz under the constant noise of rain striking the roof.

The phones in the house rang obnoxiously loud and brought Sal out of his trance forcefully enough that he nudged the sleeping terrier in surprise ad the dog responded by nipping his masters toes in warning before realizing who had disturbed him and immediately dropped his head and tail. Deeoh knew better than to bite people especially his owner and trembled against Sal's legs for either rejection or reassurance. While the phones kept ringing Salvatore picked his pet up and reassured the little dog, the number calling in was private and he was not going to answer it before the message machine picked up. Realizing that he wasn't in trouble Deeoh's shaking subsided as the message machine finally took the call and the VALKYRIE's bubbly voice filled the room.

"Hey~! Sorry no one's home right now but if ya leave us a message Amos, Sal, or me will get back to you~! Oh, and do tell us who you are and your number and who you want to talk to so we don't have to guess. Leave your message after the beep~!" The machine paused for a moment before beeping and a new and entirely unwelcome voice filled the room.

"Hey, Auditor. I know you're there so pick up the phone before I get to where I have to leave you my number..." 


	2. Chapter 2

Salvatore grimaced and grabbed the phone that was charging on the base station, of all the people who COULD have called him it had to be one of the few he never wanted to have any involvement with if he'd had a choice. Deeoh flicked his ears back at his masters irritated body language as the demon in disguise took the call and put a hand on the terriers back to calm the dog down, animals were sensitive to things in nature and even though the terrier was use to being near a relatively benign demon he still had to be careful or the dog would get upset and tremble for the rest of the night.

"Why is it that every time you call I have an unnatural desire to consume half a bottle of Tylenol laced with rat poison?"

A dry chuckle met the disguised demons words and the Auditor could just imagine Hank standing in the kind of run down motels he preferred with a cell phone in hand that' he'd toss in about a month or so to avoid any possibility of being tracked down like the paranoid mass murderer he was. All of Nevada acknowledged that Hank had done a great service by taking out the Drives and restoring everything to the way it was minus all the corpses.

"I bet you wish you could die from that instead of getting violently ill."

"Death would have been better then waking up in a tank only to get locked in a padded room."

"Reminded you about what happened to those MAG agents you made?"

Silence stretched over the phone between the two men and the sun started to set outside and the Fae flitted into the room silently with a reproachful glance at her savior for not coming to let her into the house and buzzed her wings in annoyance before she disappeared into the shrine that was set aside as her personal space. It was easier for the hand sized fairy to come in with her master than to enter on her own since crossing any threshold took a lot of energy from smaller beings even if they had a token of passage on hand like the medallion she'd just dropped.

"More like what I put VAL through. I never paid attention to the process for the MAG agents other than cleaning up the failures and disposing of them."

The Auditor shook his head at the memories and gently ran his fingers down his pets back which made the little dog sigh in contentment and lean against his master. He remembered perfectly the leet's and ATP's he'd sacrificed to get the calibration for the MAG project correct, or mostly correct, and all the points where the subjects could suffer irreparable damage that would require their elimination and where some mistakes were allowable as in the case of Agent Torture.

"What is this about Hank you never call unless you have a point to make and my patience with you has always been thin."

"We need to talk, someone broke into one of the Organizations facilities and whoever it was left a note behind with a symbol on it I've only seen in one place and that's you."

Auditor looked out his window at the advancing darkness and rubbed his forehead while the choker around his neck seemed unnaturally heavy. He couldn't believe what he was hearing and his mortal Skin was reacting to his emotional state with the natural human manner to a potentially life threatening a problem making it more uncomfortable to have on that it was before the call. He could feel his Skin's temperature rising in waves as adrenaline was pumped into its systems to prepare to fight or run like all the useless prey animals on this planet.

The demon sighed and dropped his chin to his chest to feel the choker there as a constant reminder of his place and reason for being in this world. He lived on not one but two allotments of borrowed time from two very different sources and this collar was just the physical reminder of one of them. As long as he played by the rules the anti AAHW had set down he could live outside their facilities on a very long leash and in the company of two of their operatives to make sure he didn't slip from their grasp.

"You have to be joking."

"We'll see. I'm coming for you in three days, be ready."

With that Hank hung up and left the demon in the darkness of its rented house more confused than it had been and dreading the future more than it already was. The only man who had brought the demon close to death was coming and that was never a good thing.

Outside thunder rumbled as the unnaturally early winter storm got serious and threw sheets of water on the houses and streets under it like a child throwing a tantrum. Something felt very wrong in the world but the demon would be blessed if he could figure it out any time soon.

Salvatore was walking in the rain with an umbrella in one hand and his terriers leash in the other. It was three days after Hank had called and the demon had been on pins and needles the whole day expecting to be greeted with a gun to the back of the head or a knife at the throat accompanied by his enemies voice telling him not to fight back or try to run. The dismal weather hadn't helped him avoid that unwanted train of thought.

Speaking of the weather, the meteorologists on all the local news stations had said a second storm front had moved in behind the first and was dropping so much rain on the region that records were being made and broken several records in the county for this time of year and set many meteorologists scratching their heads at a loss for a way to explain how a second storm could develop without warning.

The locals however were thrilled for the rain because they'd been suffering from a drought for years but it still bothered Salvatore that the rain had come in earlier than normal any explanation he could accept, Global warming wasn't as much of a threat as Mortals seemed to think it was and they blamed all sorts of things on it instead of taking care of the problems directly.

Sal's train of thought was disturbed as a black car splashed through a puddle rolling to a stop a few feet away where it idled until the pair walked up. He had a good idea who had nearly gotten him wet and as expected the murderous Albino known as Hank Wimbelton was staring at his old enemy from the front seat of a banged up Subaru that had seen better days.

Contrary to popular belief Human albinos lacked the red eyes of animals and fell cleanly into Hitler's description of the Arian Race, blond haired and blue eyed because of the lack of pigment.

"Get in."

"I would rather not be in a car with you Hank, every possible offense intended. Deeoh needs his exercise and he's yet to do his business.

the dog shivered in the rain and shook himself vigorously to get the water out of his fur before sitting down miserably under his masters umbrella. Like most short haired breeds the little beast didn't like getting wet and had spent the last ten minutes trying to drag his owner under every inch of cover the terrier could find.

"Besides you never liked Deeohgee and I refuse to let you put him in the trunk like last time."

The pale skinned man scowled at the disguised demon and leaned over to push the passenger door open much to the dogs delight and his owners private dismay. Apparently that excuse wasn't going to work this time.

"Just keep it away from me and I won't have to."

Lead by the terrier the collared demon reluctantly got into the car and shook out his umbrella before putting it and Deeoh into the floorboard where Hank couldn't reach safely while driving.

Deeoh sniffled at his owners' legs and nudged the hand that kept the purebred down where he would be safe, the dog was use to sticking his head out of the passenger window whenever he was in a car no matter what the weather was and not being allowed to do that in a new car seemed to depress the little animal.

"The Portable Drive's been stolen and parts of the other two as well, parts that might make the Portable Drive start working again. "

The demon couldn't help but to scoff at the idea of anyone taking a broken drive from the Organizations clutches and looked out the rain splattered window. He'd been in one of their facilities and so thoroughly inhibited that all he could manage was to put a mortal Skin on after nearly a year in their care.

"Why should i care, it's not my problem anymore. If i get involved even by proxy i get to see the inside of that transparent cell again."

"Then find a way to explain how and who could because so far you're the only suspect and that cells been so empty without you..."

Hank smirked darkly which made the scars at the edges of his mouth stand out like small canyons. Trust the Albino to have enjoyed seeing the cause of Nevada's misery trapped in a box with only a few books to distract him and a small hole in the side so a tray food could be shoved in to keep it's occupant alive if somewhat unhappy.

Barring the memories of the past and looking at the problem at hand the Auditor really couldn't care how this had managed that feat but not knowing how it had been executed was driving him to distraction unless one of his former colleges had committed the theft. No one without his former abilities was capable of doing such a thing without being caught and the list of those that qualified and who might be able to reconstruct one of his Drives much less know which parts were needed to fix one could be counted on just one hand.

"Those drives were more trouble than they're worth, what makes you think I'd even care if you've somehow managed to lose one or all of them? I have nothing to do with this and after running into you I wish I had never left home to disturb you Mortals at all."

The cookie cutter houses had rolled by steadily as the God-touched murderer navigated the car though rain slicked streets with ease of long practice before speaking a few blocks from the poorly maintained house the demon helped to rent.

"You'd be the only person to fix a stolen Drive that we know of, and the first person the person on the security tapes would approach. From what I've heard about the intruder they were a lot like you right down to how they disappeared and reappeared. Call it whatever you want but the similarity is suspicious."

Hank turned the car and stopped across the street from the old house, either Hank was satisfied for now or the killer was going to follow him in.

"Whoever did take it won't get far without the parts I left out of the blueprints. You, Jebus and Sanford wrecked a lot of the same components with a few exceptions."

"And which part is that?"

"The Bloodcrystals and the matrix that held them, the crystals that power the Drives can't be found here and it's imposable to synthesize. I'm sure those technicians have noticed the red shards that litter the inside the secondary CPU that appears to have no purpose? Those can only be found back in Hell and are so difficult to collect without life threatening consequences. Not worth the effort if you do possibly have access to a less volatile material. Whatever or whoever you're looking for is supernatural in origin"

Hank grunted and killed the engine with ease and leaned into the driver's seat to look the Auditor over carefully the telltale signs of lying. Something about the demons eyes and body language told him that there were some things going unsaid that might be important.

"You've going to have to do better than that if you want to get rid of me this time." 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - We are defiantly not alone.

Dark eyes locked with Hank's unnaturally blue orbs as the two beings tried to assert their wills to make the other back down. There was no danger of a Soulgaze anymore since they had Gazed each other from opposite sides of a transparent and bullet proof barrier in the bowels of one of the Anti-AAHW's bases located along the spine of the Rocky Mountains. They had seen each other for what they were and neither could forget what had been seen, such images from the psychic connection would never fade or blur with time, they due there as strong and fresh as the seconds after the incident which had left hank disoriented and shaking in fear while the Auditor had blinked and stood in place sorting out what had happened.

"Hank as much as you may want to know everything I can't just give you the answers. It's dangerous for you and everyone else who isn't initiated in the supernatural community who knows more than they should. And don't give me that 'I can't die' stronzate because there are things in this world who'd love to make a pet of you on principal for that reason."

The two men tog out of the car and Salvatore took a deep breath in the rain before opening his umbrella to appear as normal as possible while Hank just got out heedless of the rain or possible traffic and crossed the street without looking, Not being able to die really got to some peoples egos and such self centered behavior irritated the Auditor to no end. No one was completely immune to Karma or even the law of averages. Sooner or later this albino's careless way of living was going to keep him dead.

"You should really look before you cross."

"Bite me."

"Oh, don't tempt me Hank."

Oblivious to all things not in the kitchen the VALKYRIE bobbed her head happily to the music she had pouring out of the home theater system Amos had installed in the living room after Salvatore had footed the bill to get a new TV after the old one, something Amos had inherited form his dad, died in a way that confused her. Weeks before the old TV eventually gave up the ghost it had a tendency to suddenly reduce the screen to a thick line that crossed the whole screen and spouted static randomly with the audio until the wooden box that protected the things innards was smacked in such a way that the picture was restored.

Poor Amos had been a bit depressed when he found out it was cheaper to get rid of the old thing than to repair it, something about the vacuum tube getting old a failing to move its parts as it should. When she'd asked him about it he'd said he watched old shows with his parents and nephew on it back when he was a boy and he'd loved it so much his father had willed it to the old leet. Strange present from a dead guy but the TV had been in good shape for something just over thirty years old so she wasn't in a position to complain.

The CD paused in preparation for the next track and the violet haired cook shot a glance at the microwave to see just how long shed have to wait to get the hot water out. Cooking wasn't something that came natural to her despite being a woman and barring Sal and Amos's constant teasing about it she was good at one thing and that was desserts. Give her the recipe for a homemade cheesecake any day and she'd make something that tasted like it was from a restaurant but hand her something for a pot roast and she would be lucky not to set something on fire.

The next song started and Val couldn't help singing the lyrics she'd made up for the techno track since she was alone at the moment. She didn't like people hearing her sing so the telekinetic usually stuck to humming in public on whomever strangers might hear her which took no talent at all and wouldn't draw looks from people who silently wished for her shut the heck up..

"In this land of earth and sea There's no other place to be.  
>And in this world of love and hate There's no other place to play.<p>

Far out beyond the agate gate Bring you right here back to me.  
>And in this world of earth and pain There's no other place to go."<p>

Thirty seconds until the microwave was done and she would be nearly done with cooking, just to boil the water with the noodles, stir and let cool. Only thing that would be left for dinner was cutting up some of fruit in the fridge if it wasn't over-ripe already.

A quick glance in the microwave made the woman flinch, the water was steaming and all the hot pads were in the washer. Like it or not she was going to have to TK it so she wouldn't hurt her hand with the hot glass.

The two men were halfway up the front walk when the terrier shot to the side nearly pulling Salvatore over and squatted in the grass to finally give his owner the small brown present that he'd been waiting for.

"There we go! Just give me a moment Hank I have to take care of this. Good boy Deeoh, you finally decided to get to business~!"

Hank felt a shudder climbing his spine as the demon talked happily to the mutt with a small bag in hand to pick up the peanut sized turds. He never thought about the thing behind the Madness having any redeeming qualities or use after the Drives had been destroyed but like all vermin the Auditor had proved impossible to get rid of completely.

"Good boy. Good and smelly, this is going right to the backyard can once I get your harness off."

Hank felt repulsed from the display of canine affection and stabbed the doorbell with one gloved finger to get the attention of whoever was singing off key inside, the music was so loud he couldn't tell who the singer was but he doubted that Amos would listen to music you'd find in a night club. It had the throbbing beat you'd expect from a rave.

"GOD DAMMIT!"

Hank heard a crash of glass and a splash of water, definitely not Amos which meant he was about to have a very short girl opening the door. Right on cue the door was yanked open so quickly that the blonds coat was actually pulled toward the woman now standing where the door had been. She looked about ready to attack.

"Don't you have a key Salvat...? You're not Salhank where's-?"

The Auditor felt a smile climb into its natural place on his face and didn't resist it as he scooped his pet up and slunk over to the two people at the door. It was worth watching Val's anger get diffused by the lack of intended target.

"'Ello VAL, I brought company home and he has no class about how to properly pick someone up off the streets. Now if you'll excuse me for just a moment I have Deeoh's little present to deal with."

The demon squeezed between Hank and VAL with the tied bag in one hand and his harnessed pet in the other. Val seemed surprised with Hank's appearance so he was going to let the two confront each other for a moment before he came back into the room. The best way to learn was to put the targets of balance socially and emotionally.

"Play nice you two~! Vai alla tua cassa Deeoh."

the dog scrambled in his owners arms until his little feet touch the ground and shook himself thoroughly to get the water out if its fur. After a quick yawn and a good scratch the little white dog rubbed his face and shoulder into the carpets and moved towards the back room of the house near the back door.

Hank watched the tan skinned demon leave and tried to figure out the last few words that had been spoken. He had to learn quickly the few things Auditor would say in Italian to match his physical appearance when the demon decided to look human but there were still times when he would be lost in translation.

"What was that last part?"

"He told Deeoh to get in bed I think. He only uses Italian when he really wants Deeoh to listen and obey. Or when he's upset, he really pours it on when he's upset."

Val crossed her arms loosely and soothed her nerves from the statement, anger and discomfort of seeing hank on the welcome mat. He was decent enough but by no means comforting or good company, he tended to stay far too quiet and watch you doing whatever it was you were doing.

"I guess you should come in, but why are you even here? No one said anything about you drop-ping by but it does explain why Sal's been acting likes he's about to start his punctuation. You bring out the worst in him."

Hank stepped forward as Val headed back into the house and pushed the door closed behind him without needing to see what he was doing. He didn't need to have to keep an eye on both of them but it was hard not to feel paranoid about someone who could read your mind and one who had no problem ripping a man's throat out with his bare hands.

"The feeling's mutual."

Salvatore came back into the room with a few sheets of paper and a handful of pens with different colored inks including one with a feathered bobble at the end meant for young girls.

"Alright I'm going to shorten this to only essential information and I'm only saying it once because this information's dangerous for Mortals who aren't a part of the Supernatural community. Trust me on this Hank some of the things that are here make your experiences look like a walk in a park so keep all questions for the end but don't expect an answer because frankly I don't know everything. I'm assuming you've told VAL why you came?"

"She's not involved."

"Really, now that surprises me. Well I still prefer to have her sitting in on this because I'm delighted you came to me for information you obviously can't get for yourself so why don't we all sit down. This is going to take a while."

Valarie looked at Hank with a questioning look and quickly walked around the small bar that separated the front door form the dining room to stand on one side of the table where the demon was setting up his things. Whatever this was about what to be important and she hated being left out. After all she was ONLY one of two people who were assigned to watch the Auditor to make sure he didn't try to mess things up again!

"Think of her as a mediator if that makes you feel any better now get your pasty ass in here before I carry you to a seat."

The Auditor sat down and snatched up a black pen to sketch a yin-yang symbol in the middle of the page with space above and below the circle. He was doing this information a disservice by simplifying it so much but between the White Council and all the other nasty things that hated being revealed these two mortals would be in danger. VAL could handle herself, as a telekinetic she could cut corners that practitioners couldn't and would be able to evade most of the beasts of the Nevernever minus the Fetches and direct rulers of the Faerie courts. Hank however would be an open target unless he had forewarning of an attack.

"Here we have Earth with a balance of vanilla Mortals and Supernatural beings understandably some mortals have gained access to the supernatural resulting in the dots of the symbol and some supernatural beings interbred with humans to create their kind who are quite mortal in origin like the Incarnations of Time, Nature, War, Death, and Fate. Hold it VAL I'll explain those later if you really want to know."

VALKYRIE snapped her mouth closed and looked like she had swallowed something bitter while the collared man clicked the multi inked pen to blue and hastily colored half of the yin yang circle blue and the other side green as he spoke to emphasize the two parts and doodled five characters of either Chinese or Japanese origin on the edges of the circle like the points of a star contained with the representation of Earth. The demon tapped the orange and yellow lines on the top and bottom of the page with his pen and labeled them as he spoke.

"The yellow line is Heaven which you know about from various holy books with Cherubs, Seraphim angels God and Jebus himself. It's rather boring if you're dead since its set up to provide virtue rather than blissful enjoyment like you'd expect."

The demon hastily wrote a few notes to the side of the line and moved to the bottom of the page to label the line with the feathered pen.

"Down here is Hell, home of Demons, Fallen Angels, Succubae, Satyrs, Himself, and the Greater Sins. Both are needed to keep things in balance, but such balance is precarious and your worldwide disasters are usually due to imbalances. The major ones at any rate like your Black Ages, the Crusades, whitch hunts, and the drying out of the fertile lands between the Tigris and the Euphrates. We had little to do with your world wars, You can thank the Fae and Vampire Courts for that one."

Hank raised an eyebrow and leaned towards his rival sitting across the table and slowly made his way over to get a better look at what the demon was doing. The diagram meant very little to the albino at this point but what was said had caught his ear.

"Himself? Who or what is himself."

"It's a force of habit like calling ones boss Sir, You know him as Lucifer up here."

"Why Himself?"

"I said one question about any one part so you're going to have to wait and SHUT UP like I asked. You are by no means special Hank."

The demon glared at the man who seemed infuriatingly unaffected before clicking the pen he'd used for Earth to its green tip and drew a line between Earth and Heaven.

"Here is Purgatory, empty and endless where souls in perfect balance reside until it's decided where they'll go, usually back to earth via reincarnation so the Buddhists are highly accurate in that respect. Also Souls that aren't wanted in either heaven or Hell are forced to stay there like Michael Jackson and Nixon. I bet you've been there too Hank when the Powers took their sweet time bringing you back."

He stopped his narration long enough to pick up a pen with purple ink and drew a line between Earth and Hell and added a jagged line going from this new line to the circle.

"This is the Nevernever where things like Ogres, Fairy godmothers, leprechauns, curse fiends and fetches reside just to name a few. The Nevernever has more effect on you humans than God or Lucifer do because it's so much closer. You're world wars are due to the actions of the Fae and your odd weather recently is evidence of the yearly struggle between the Summer and Winter Faerie courts even if it's particularly odd this year. Most all the fairy tales you know had real origins with beings from this realm..."

Auditor stopped and looked pointedly at VAL who was covering her mouth to smother a laugh. There was nothing funny about the Nevernever or what lived there, some things like the Fetches from the Winter realm made Freddy Kruger look like a teddy bear owned by a gothic seamstress.

"What is so funny?"

The young woman took her hand away from her face and smiled down at the irritated demon. she looked so young when she did and it was alarming how much he enjoyed seeing her smile. When not upset she could charm anyone into letting their guard down.

"You. You never looked this alive since the time I snuck Crime and Punishment to you. You' should be this happy more often it's not good to keep things in all the time, everyone needs to feel good now and then, Sal."

"I'll never understand you..."

"'Course not Sal, I'm a woman and you're just a guy. No worries~!"

Salvatore shook his head and took a moment ot clear his thoughts before getting to what had brought the killer all the way to seekign the demon out.

"Back to what I was saying. Hank, you wanted me to think of ways someone might have be able it infiltrate high security areas and the Nevernever is as good a way as any but the only proof would be if a clear jell like melted Jell-O was present. It evaporates within minutes so while plausible it would be hard to prove if a report wasn't made soon after any incident involving beings coming from there, Fae or otherwise. The matter of the Nevernever cannot exist here without someone to focus it into a shape."

"You expect me to believe someone could show up and leave from anywhere in a way that can't be traced and take something with them?"

"Hank I like to think you're not stupid but if you keep saying things like that I'll have to reconsider. The Fae aren't the only ones that can use the Nevernever, anyone who knows how to open a Way can travel there. It takes a lot of effort to tear open the boundary and it's dangerous to even go there because no one can know for sure what's on the other side of the veil but it can be done. I've even been there a few times and it's not exactly home or inviting."

Salvatore put his pens down and bit his thumb. This was going to hurt a little bit but as long as Hank wasn't too close minded about what was going to happen next the point would be made. He just had to get it done quickly before either Hank or the VALKYRIE could stop him from his intended demonstration. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Are you Serious?

Hank shook his head and kicked a chair out from under the table, nothing he'd just heard sounded plausible except for Purgatory, Heaven and Hell. The other parts, this Nevernever and what was suppose to exist there sounded like something the demon had pulled out of his ass to sound more important than he was. The claim that there was a semi-solid mass that could disappear leaving no evidence at all was preposterous, even the man made elements left something behind when they deteriorated that could be collected and studied.

"Half of what you said can't be proven."

"Can't you take anything on faith like the rest of the world? Human history proves that all people pin their hopes on the slimmest of beliefs simply because what they believe is real can't be proven to NOT exist. Even money in America proudly proclaims that it is in God that you trust, and the signs of that god are stamped on buildings wherever they can be seen and accepted by the masses."

"That will be the day, if there is a god he's a sadistic bastard."

"I won't argue with you there Hank, I know personally how he works."

Sal yawned and heard his jaw crack from the extension with open disgust, the sound wasn't loud enough to carry beyond the confines of his skull but it traveled through the bones to be picked up by his inner ear. He'd have to deal with the cause of the click that when he had a few hours to himself tonight and privately regretted his choice to start his time on Earth by possessing a mortal instead of simply masquerading as one and altering the human information systems to put himself into their society. As a direct result the Skin needed to be maintained regularly or it would begin to slowly loose alignment and function inefficiently.

"Just listen and try not to be so close minded, it's unbecoming from someone as well known as you, Hank. What you/re about to see is delicate and at times quite temperamental like your phone which I hope you turned off before you walked in. Kumar, you can drop the veil now."

Hank felt his phone buzz in his pocket and jumped as a fat blue spark shot out of it as small creature about as tall as his hand was long appeared out of nowhere sitting on the artistically crafted table setting. It was perched on one of the taller candles in the middle of the rearrangement with its hands in front of its body like it had been holding something before dropping its arms to hold onto the beeswax it was sitting on.

The creature looked startled both by the spark and suddenly being the focus of the human she'd been perched in front of and fell backwards into the cup of melted wax at the center of the large candle where it thrashed for a moment in panic, showing off well formed legs and feet before it fell out of the candle and landed on the glass table with a thump. For a few seconds it stayed hidden until it peeked around the candelabra at the two men with green eyes partially concealed from sight by long red bangs

"Looks like your phone's toast but I imagine you were due to get another throw away given your habits. Cell phones are the first things affected by mythical beings and active magic followed by the newest TV's, computers, radios and hybrid cars."

Sal smiled smugly at hanks predicament and took a breath before continuing.

"Now as I was saying beings from the Nevernever can come here but they have a definite effect on technology and magic in general. Each individual has their own personality just like with humans and animals and some can even resemble creatures you know but the similarities stop there as you can see with my little friend here."

The fairy tentatively stepped out from behind the candelabra and quickly bowed to everyone in the room before carefully stepping around glass scatter and silverware on her way to look at the albinos' gloved hands. Light played off the small woman's wings revealing undertones of blue, purple and orange color otherwise invisible in the transparent insect like wings attached to her back and as she passed through a shadow cast by a mug on the table. Hank could just see that the faint glow seemed to come from her body and wasn't a reflection like he'd thought when the thing had first appeared.

Hank pulled back as the woman approached tentatively and felt his right palm itching slightly as the little thing got close enough for him to touch without having to move. Curiosity got the better of him and the albino relaxed slightly to touch the thing with a finger to see if it was real and blinked as she instead climbed onto his hand like a pet rat and looked up at him from the back of his hand.

"Don't worry she's just a dewdrop Fairy, among the weakest of the Fae but very useful for gathering information since nearly all supernatural things ignore them completely. What I appreciate about her is that she won't disturb anything technology related unless she's actively doing magic like putting up or dropping a veil."

"How long have you had her? I think someone would have noticed this if she sits in the middle of everything."

The demon propped his chin on a hand and watched as Hank slowly moved his arm with the little Fae performing a little balancing act to stay grounded on his gloved hand. It was interesting to see Hank confused for once as he tried to figure out what K'mar was and the little fairy was equally interested in the man's arm since she kept looking down at it every now and then and prodded it through Hanks trench coat. She could probably feel the strangeness of the limb despite how normal it looked.

"She's been with me since Tricky ripped your head off, I suspect she was watching while I was recovering under constant surveillance but I have no way to prove it. Just a feeling and nothing more and as to hiding her you've seen that little 'shrine' I made. It's her little corner of the house she can call her own."

VAL squinted and scooted over to Hank to get a closer look at the miniature woman perched on his hand. The little thing had straight reddish brown hair down to her shoulders and a pair of gossamer wings like you'd see on a dragonfly with hints of blue orange and peach on the delicate wing surfaces. This little fairy was wearing what looked like scraps of cotton fabric stitched together with either really thin thread or individual strands of human hair that had been braided into a thread.

"Looks like Tinkerbell except this one kinda glows yellow instead of green and the hairs the wrong color."

The faerie turned on Hanks hand and glared at Valerie before throwing what looked like a bubble at the long haired woman. The bubble sailed through the air faster than either the demon or Hank would have guessed and it struck VALKYRIE squarely in the face with an obnoxious sound and smell

"OHMYEFFIN'GAWDTHATREAKS! It's worse than anything I smelt before except decomp. Decomposition is worse than this but not by much!"

She backed up and pawed at her face to get the stuff off while the demon chuckled at the mortal's misfortune; even Hank cracked a small smile and looked at the small woman on the back of his hand. Only fairy was laughing silently as the rooms occupants suffered from the smell of low tide mixed with landfill and manure which dissipated on its own as the fumes dispersed through the adjacent rooms thanks to a few open windows.

"She's a little sensitive about being called Tink. Most Fae find Tinkerbell an insult to their kind because she's selfless and bound herself willingly to one person. If she were a true fairy she'd try to put that child stealer in his place and command him to bring more children to her."

"What are you serious?"

"Yes. Don't you ever read the original classics? It's a shame they are often forgotten, they had such character and accurately described the creatures they speak of. They're not the cute stories you see today, they were scary and meant to make children behave to avoid the terrors most of which are real. Threats kept at bay by a handful of individuals powerful enough to handle the problems and you two are not of that elite group."

K'mar nodded and made a series of gestures at Salvatore which the two humans couldn't understand since the creature was using sign language. Whatever had been said was apparently funny to the super natural being and Sal's eyes lit up with amusement.

Hank looked at the fairy before it got bored and walked back along his hand to the candle it had been perched on before, if this was just a trick it was a very convincing one. As it had walked he'd gotten interference along his arm from his fingers to his wrist and as it went back to its perch those mixed signals had vanished leaving no sign of any problems.

"This all hard to believe."

"I figured as much so I have another little demonstration that you will appreciate better."

Salvatore thinned out the Skin at the base of a thumb and sighed with the necessity of mauling his camouflage for the sake of making a believer out of a skeptic. This was going to hurt for a moment then he'd have to be ready for the reactions of a killer and an occasionally squeamish girl.

In one fluid motion the demon bit down on the compromised thumb and yanked the hand away from his face and tore the human thumb off at the thinned area around the base and spat the finger out on the diagram he'd sketched.

The severed appendage bled for a second on the paper making Val squeak before it lost its color and shape, becoming a colorless mound with no shape to it even as the pile started to evaporate in front of everyone. Even the blood that had squired from the injury had thickened and paled to clear and was dissolving with the rest of the supposed flesh.

The sudden sight of the blood and the torn off finger had taken VAL by surprise and sight made her stomach revolt to the point of emptying itself onto the floor once the dissolving pile of stuff started to steam like boiling water. To avoid the embarrassment and need to puke the woman retreated to the kitchen and distracted herself with the pots she had abandoned to see what the men were talking about.

She needed to get herself under control and master her body's urges. She was not a silly girl who was so squeamish she could squeal at the slightest noises and movements in the shadows. She was a fighter at heart and one of the few who could fight long range with her thoughts. She could handle this just like she could in combat.

"Now tell me what you think it is. There's practically none of it left on the table."

The stump where the tanned finger had been fuzzed out around the torn edges and a charcoal black thumb that had been hidden under the paradoxically thin skin showed through. It was like stripping away the layers of an onion only this onion had only two layers. The covering was quite amazing in its complexity and depth but had been a royal pain to create at the beginning; the demon had needed a living host to use as a template for the creation of the current skin.

Not that such thought was needed now to keep it working and healthy. The original Salvatore was long dead and only his name and memories had survived after the human had made a contract with a demon. That lonely mortal was broken like a child and existed in the dreams of the parasite he'd invited into his life.

Hank stayed silent and took the diagram to check for dampness on the page, it was flat distorted only by the pressure of the pens used to mar its white surface.

"I don't expect you to believe me right now. I doubt the uninitiated could really wrap their heads around just being pawns in someone else's game, much less being pawns in a game run by deities, fairytale creatures and on some occasions the Higher Powers themselves. Just ask yourself about all the biggest unexplained things you've seen. If this stronzate of mine didn't exist you should be dead and six feet under fifteen years ago. I ought to have never existed and Tricky would never have come back to rip your head off and beat it into the ground. You would have just been another useless human wandering the globe looking for some deeper meaning to life and leaving nothing behind but offspring when you die."

The Auditor leaned forward and looked at Hank earnestly, this albino may be able to ignore the fairy perched on the table and even the demonstration involving matter from the Nevernever but surely he wouldn't be so blind as to discount his own experiences. Hank's pride and stubbornness would keep him from doing what was needed however so a slight nudge would be needed to get this mortal to take the right course.

"It's pointless to ask you to trust me, and I can't blame you for that but just do this one thing, if not to satisfy your curiosity then do it to prove me wrong. Go to Seattle and look in the phone book for Elaine something or other, I think her last name starts with a dee, she's likely under the double ewes as a professional witch."

Sal frowned and cupped the fingers of the uninjured hand around the thumb and concentrated on restoring the Skin as he spoke. It was going to look painful though the sensation would be reduced to a kind of bubbling for him as the pseudo flesh boiled around the stump and climbed the finger underneath like a living creature until the whole thing was covered before taking on the tan color of the human skin it had grown from.

"Ask her for an interpretation of your evidence, last I heard she had started a business as a paranormal private investigator up there so she'd need to be paid to take the job. Of course that will mean letting a civilian on site to deal with the problem but that's not your choice to make, is it delivery boy? You just take messages from here to there and they tell you what to think and do."

Hank just looked at the demon with no sign of emotion while the fairy took this chance to escape to the back of the house while the two men stared each other down. He wasn't about to rise to the obvious bait. The bastard could think whatever he wanted but he wasn't' about to give it the pleasure of goading him into action.

The garage door opened with a nerve wrenching squeal that demanded lubrication or replacement followed by the well maintained growl of a pickup truck pulling in.

"I think I'm done here."

The killer stood up and got ready to walk out on the renters when he bumped into a mushy wall about as tall as he was and completely invisible.. He turned to shoot a bored glance at the Kinetic in the kitchen and stared her down.

"You aren't going anywhere Hank! You are going to eat my cooking since you're here and you're going to like it! Good thing I made double so everyone gets their fill."

VALKYRIE shook a ladle at the killer as Amos walked in from the garage with a duffel bag over his shoulder and keys in hand. The man looked at the pair at the table and took a deep steadying breath. They weren't trying to hurt each other which meant something very serious was going on and he'd come home during the middle of it most likely.

"Why can't I have just one normal day every few months? Between the three of you I'm going to have a heart attack or a stroke." 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Better to be an Ant ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hank relieved himself in the bathroom and threw a frustrated glare at the wall behind the toilet. Homey meals, idle chatter, and having to exercise manners he hadn't had a use for in years was not his eada of a good time. Amos and Valaries' idle conversations he could live with no matter what questions the girl aimed at him. The hardest part was seeing the Auditor acting just like they were, adding his complaints to the general pool of life's drudgery and prodding with barbed humor at their guest.

It was definitely strange to sit at the same table and eat with the demon, stranger still to know it had adjusted well to its situation and thrived in it. He talked about the various people at the office, the rumored affairs of a married couple which delighted VAL and threw a few scraps of lewd humor on the table for Amos to enjoy. Some of the cruder comments had appealed to the killer as well which he hated to admit especially the ones about politicians trying to string together the various effects from what most people called "the Nevada Incident".

After everything ended there was confusion but very little chaos, it was like waking up from a bad dream and finding yourself in the aftermath of a tornado. No one remembered exactly what had happened but they all agreed it had been the worst thing they'd experienced and the nation as a whole pulled together to patch things up and fix everything to look the way it had before except for a few things that had been left behind by the Drives. Only the people involved in the fighting remembered everything clearly, until the next war against some of the side effects of Auditor's Drives.

That was one mess he was happy to leave behind.

One last effort and he pulled his pants up to scowl at the slightly warped mirror in the guest bathroom, the albino had endured worse than a simple dinner among associates and a beaten down enemy. He'd been through so much pain that he hardly felt the sensation any more, died so many times and been brought back that it had become as common to him as breathing, and even been to another world altogether. Just a little more patience and he'd be able to leave with the kinetics curiosity satisfied.

A knock at the door disturbed him and he reached instinctively for a gun that wasn't there.

"Are you done in there? Sal's starting to say you fell in and desserts getting cold."

And that would be the Kinetic coming to check on him, time to have a little fun. VAL jumped backwards as the door snapped open and barely escaped stepping on Deeoh in the process, the terrier backed into a wall and scurried back to its master's feet.

VAL blinked and smiled nervously, dear lordy Hank was kind of scary to be around if he was even a little bit mad with those scars on either side of his mouth. Just seeing him a little irritated made her want to hide somewhere. "Uh, I don't see any water on you so you didn't fall in. Yay?"

Hank just stared at the petite woman until she blushed and hurried back to the dining room with a faint scent in her wake that made him think of a warm place from a half remembered dream, there had been a single tree and green grass in it along with a faint sense of someone nearby bur all else had become a blur upon waking. It was one of the few good dreams he had.

He shook his head and resigned himself to finish the meal as quickly as humanly possible and escape before Valarie got the idea to invite him to stay for the night.

An hour later the killer made his escape with Amos following him to the car while the demon occupied Valarie a hushed story about the creature living in the house with the two friends ever since they took responsibility for their demonic charge.

"That went reasonably well I think, Hank. He's been restless for the last few nights but he seemed calm enough with you finally here."

The blond haired man grunted as he circled his barrowed car in the light rain that had firmly settled in during the meal. Overhead the clouds were heavy and low to the ground with their shared burdens. "Still can't trust him."

The old leet chuckled under the black umbrella he held and watched as Hank climbed into the car with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. As awkward as it had been to have the former bane of his employment at the table he had thoroughly enjoyed Salvatore's little game.

"True enough but I think he has been honest about a few things, and not just tonight he seemed as surprised as any of us about the creation of the Realm and the Anti." Amos stopped and looked at Hank through the window shield. He was holding the door open just wide enough to hear what was being said but tapped the edge of the door with two fingers. "Whatever you've asked for him to do and sworn VAL to secrecy for has put him in a better mood than I've seen since he was handed over to us. It's a rare gift I can't thank you enough for."

"Are you done?"

"I suppose so. Don't be a stranger Hank; the Hero of Nevada has got to be more or less use to this treatment."

Hank yanked the door closed and drove off into the darkness and rain soaked streets. Poor bastard had never asked to be honored for what he'd done and the title stuck to him like glue wherever he went. Respected and feared as a hero who bathed in blood during the deepest madness and killed the monster behind it. Except the monster had been too daft to just die there, it had crawled back to life and clung to it like any person would after a brush with death, not that anyone outside a select few knew that particular detail.

"Loosen up while you're at it, you're wound tighter than a spring."

Amos turned back to the house just in time to see Salvatore's terrier nudge the front door open and prance down the walkway with its tail held high and its ears pricked forward. The tiny terror looked at the human with its dark eyes and pranced over to the man as he crossed the lawn where it was promptly scooped up before his fur got too wet. Trust a dog to exploit a lapse in human attention!

"You little devil how'd you open that door, I thought I closed it. Doesn't matter to you, you were looking for the new guy weren't you? He's gone now. Yes he is, yes he is!"

Deeoh twisted his head at the words and wriggled to nip the man's nose playfully like a puppy. The dog was seven but apparently the most important trait of terriers was that puppy like energy throughout their lives. It was that energy compared to how sedate the owner was that somehow made the odd relationship between demon and animal work.

"Let's get you inside before you stink too much like a wet dog Deeoh."

Amos scuffed his feet on the doormat and deposited the dog just inside the front door where it promptly shook water out if it's fur. If it were only that easy for people to get dry, to be honest it was but dogs simply didn't care about what others thought. They shook themselves dry in public and rubbed all over the furniture because they had no better way.

He put the wet umbrella in the shower to dry and walked to kitchen to help with cleaning up. Valarie was putting dishes away while Sal washed them so Amos took the second sponge and wiped countertops and the stove silently with the others. With the three of them in the room it felt crowded but there was a kind of camaraderie in the silent closeness of it.

"Well I'm done~! I'm gonna get ready for bed it's almost ten~!"

VAL waved at the guys and took off for the back of the house, once she got to her room she'd stay there until morning unless woken up beforehand. Amos let the silence stretch until it became officially awkward before broaching a subject that had bothered him since he'd come home, being left out of something he was sure was very important did not sit well at all.

"So?"

"I've never liked that blank way of inferring a desire for knowledge. Whatever it is you want to say just say it."

Well at least the Auditor was more or less aware about what was coming. "What has Hank asked you to do that made you swear VAL to secrecy about? Hank I understand but she has a tendency to try to fit in with her peers by way of gossip"

The demon sighed and put the sponge down for a moment, Amos was mulish enough to insist on answers no matter how you tried to dissuade him.

"It's nothing personal, the information I shared is just dangerous to know for the uninitiated. Hank is deadly to all vectors who might try to prey on him and VALKYRIE is as easy to catch as mist once she's aware of a threat."

"Even mist can be contained in a bottle."

"I know. Telling mortals with no magical abilities or traits is dangerous because the knowledge makes them a target and there are beings out there that will gladly trap mortals for their own gains. Even I can be a target to them for bringing humans into the supernatural playing field. Those two however are unique, between the Higher Powers and telekinesis they will be formidable prey indeed."

He paused and refilled Deeoh's bowl with dry food. He'd raised the terrier well enough so that he didn't eat all that was in his bowl because it was there. The bowl could be full all the time and the dog would only eat when it was hungry. Highly convenient so that once a day or every other day it needed to be refilled and cleaned.

"Tell me Amos, have you ever noticed ants at your feet?"

"You're changing the subject."

"This relates but in a devious way. Have you ever noticed ants at your feet? I don't mean when you paying attention to them I mean in general."

"Who would notice ant's at all if they didn't try to get into our homes?"

"Exactly, to the greater powers you humans are just so many ants. You scurry at our feet unaware of the larger world around you. You cannot comprehend that what you walk on is just a part of a larger creature you can't eat or really interact with so you go on about you short and overall pointless lives in ignorant bliss. When threatened you swarm and attack even against your own kind, terrible crimes have been waged because of many factors most of which are superficial if you think about them rationally."

Salvatore used a towel to dry his hands and tossed it carelessly on a hook to dry and walked to the living room, if the human wanted to know more he'd follow. After a second he could hear the human's shoes on the strip of metal holding the carpet down at the kitchen door and smiled to himself, curiosity was one thing he had in common with humans.

"But, like ants you can make yourselves known if we kick over your anthills. You have ways to defend yourselves from attack like all insects and the weapons you use are as creative as those employed by said bugs. When you get involved in supernatural affairs you make such a mess of everything that those responsible wish that you had never become aware of your roles in the game."

Amos followed and stayed quiet, being compared to a bug wasn't what he'd been prepared for and he didn't like what was being implied. Ants worked mindlessly to serve the whole which was nothing at all like human society. People could think and reason and dominated all other animals because of it.

"I don't understand what bugs have to do with anything."

"It's just an analogy and it's best that you don't. Your ignorance would spare you in this case."

"Ignorance is no way to live! If these other powers you talk about are so dangerous why didn't they get involved when you were making a mess of things in Nevada?"

"They were hedging their bets as it were to see if the bid for power would sink or swim, then they would have gotten involved. The battle between good and evil is vague to most but the power wielded in the fight is immense. Looking back I am just a little surprised the Wardens didn't get involved from the start."

Sal looked at the human and mentally flinched at the mortals' reaction to the word Warden. While not related both Warden and the Wardens were more trouble than they were worth and should be avoided at all costs.

"Wardens, not that Anti who bit off more than he could chew. Wardens are gray of clothing and deed with a gleaming blade capable of rending spell, flesh and bone in one graceful slash of a sword. Imagine Hank as a brutal sword wielding cop, the worst kind that follows rules to the letter and goes outside the law on occasion to make sure that violators are caught."

Sal leaned against a wall and thought about his one brief glimpse of a Warden of the White Council. He hadn't been the target but the experience had shaken him deeply. No normal blade should have been capable of destroying so many helldwellers, no human should have walked into hell and left without being torn to shreds after slaughtering one of the Greater Sins either. Just remembering the scene made him shudder in horror, Wardens were no joke. Strangely though that particular sword had been lost to the Council and was now touring the world in the hands of ordinary mortals since that time.

"I'm having a hard time putting any kind of faith in what you've been saying."

"It is best for you to be an ant Amos and live unnoticed by the things that are capable of killing you just by thinking about your existence. With some luck however you'll be overlooked since I still have some shreds of my reputation in the wider circles in America. No promises, I can't do a thing if the issue gets pushed."

"What are you talking about demon you still haven't-"

The Auditor sighed in exasperation and stood up suddenly. This wasn't going to end any time soon at this rate. "I'm afraid I've grown tired of this particular topic for tonight. I have to focus on what information I can and cannot put in the report Hank has requested. Good night."

The Auditor slipped out of the living room and escaped into the room he called his own and leaned against the door with the lights out. If he waited long enough the human would retire for the night and he'd be free. In fact he could just barely hear Amos pacing for a while and relaxed only when his bedroom door closed. The old man wouldn't let things go easily so there was a good chance in the near future for a confrontation, in a few days preferably.

Now that he was alone with only K'mar in the room he could realign his mortal Skin to keep it working. Humans were so fragile and weak that even restraining himself put stress on it and on occasion others. Valarie took it reasonably well since she too held back during normal interactions, Amos however toughed out such encounters and didn't mention the injuries.

Salvatore stripped down to his boxers and started with simple breathing exercises before going into the movements to set bones and muscles in order and cleared his mind. It was a bit like the human art of Hatha yoga but went deeper than humans could ever hope to achieve safely. Hell he could probably give some of those Russian contortionists a run for their jobs if he thinned his mortal layer enough.

He'd almost finished his routine when he heard a loud scratching at the door making him pitch forward. Instinct drove him to hastily put a hand down to keep from falling gracelessly to the floor when the sound broke his concentration and scowled at the box on his desk where he could just see the fairy pointing and laughing silently at her savior. Damn that fairy! Mute as she was he could just imagine what her laugh might have sounded like.

The scratch came again accompanied by a small whine from the hall, Deeoh was ready to sleep with him now. Auditor smirked and eased the door open and in the dim light both dog and demon saw each other well enough, the terriers tail flipped left and right slowly. The little imp was waiting for an invitation!

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

Deeoh looked up innocently from the hall and wagged his tail happily as he entered the room and leapt onto the bed. Well it was nearly midnight and the only thing he had left to work on was the spine. Perhaps he could enlist VAL for that she had a rare talent for getting it in order no matter who she was working on. The hardest part was holding his breath when she worked her way to his shoulder blades, it never worked if you held your breath.

The terrier watched as his owner crawl into bed before slowly walking towards the pillows and nudging his nose insistently under the edge of the sheets. Chuckling, Salvatore pulled the sheets up and waited for the terrier to slip under the covers and curl up against his back like he'd done even as a nameless puppy.

"Night you little weirdo." The dog only sighed deeply and rearranged its legs in answer and the shrine on the dresser flickered faintly, today was going to be interesting. 


	6. Chapter 6

Sylvia walked out of her office and made sure it was locked behind her before turning to go down the short hallway to the elevators and past smaller offices of her employees. She ran a consulting company generally took contracts specifically those that dealt with construction sites. No one wanted to build on unstable ground and she managed several contracts to bring in money and ensure that buildings were built safely for the community and to suggest measures that would make such structures stable with the shifting geology of the area. It was good work and there was no lack of new business.

She stopped short of her secretaries desk and looked at the man she'd hired two years ago, tall lean and handsome with dark skin black hair and dark eyes that made her think of deep waters that held secrets under their calm surfaces. Salvatore was an excellent worker and despite her associates misgivings she d hired the man, people from Nevada were generally unpredictable and his file didn't give any reassurances that he couldn't do something violent.

He stopped typing on the computer and looked at her with those dark eyes and she smiled. Good worker yes but not very outspoken beyond that, she knew next to nothing about his personal life but she was going to see that changed. He was NOT going to get out of the monthly birthday party this time even if she had to go around him to ensure his attendance or maybe she could tease him into it.

She sat on the edge of the desk and preened mentally as he looked at her legs briefly before looking beyond them to her face that was another odd thing. He never looked her in the eyes and managed it without it seeming insulting. Every time she noticed it happening she wondered why and forgot about it within a minute of turning away. It was probably some idiosyncrasy of his from a time in his past.  
>"I'm taking off early for once; these late nights are killing me."<p>

"Yes Mrs. Crowley. I wish you a safe drive home."

She suppressed her disappointment at his workplace correct response and shifted her weight slightly and was rewarded with seeing his attention being drawn back to her tanned legs. He was too polite to say anything about the sight but she knew he looked. All men looked but this one stopped at looking that made him a frustrating challenge and one she felt safe with taking on.

"The October party's coming up I really want you to go this time. Anna would love to have you there since you helped her find those deductions that sent her oldest to college. No buts this time I already sent the invitations and you re going even if I have to pick you up personally.

She stood as her secretary looked distinctly uncomfortable and waved over her shoulder on her way to the elevators. His roommates probably would get the invitation before he did and she had planned on that, just asking him in person ended in a demurral and his absence. This time she'd done something she hadn't since high school and felt guilty at the tactic that she knew would work. Something that had worked since middle school and that worked even as an adult when played properly as an adult probably was best avoided but it got things done.

Once again she thought about his file in the Nevada Index. Everyone who survived the two wars had come out with side effects in the form of Anti or abilities and these were logged for public and business reference which barred those people from most respectable employment opportunities so they tended to live with others like them who were ostracized by society.

Her purse bumped comfortably against her hip as she walked out of the elevator and into the garage under the building toward her car. He was no exception he lived with a girl who like many others had Psychic powers after the Nevada Incident and with a man who had worked for the Auditor for a time, the other man was ordinary but the girl was special. She had managed to work at a local bar and grill and also was employed by the new business Kenitel that specialized in PSI talents.

Sylvia first met the girl one night while partying with some friends and was surprised that the name tacked onto Salvatore s' file belonged to a small woman best described as cute with naturally purple hair and a bubbly personality. Valarie had struck her as one of those girls who knew what they wanted and did what they had to get it within reason and as someone whose curiosity would get the better of them. If Valarie got the invitation first the chances of Sal having to go would be good, girls like that often had ways to make you do what they wanted and she was counting on that.

A smile crept onto her face as she pulled out onto the street in her red Lexis, it was underhanded and unprofessional but Sal was all about work and very little play. A little time out of the office doing something fun would be good for him.

Auditor sighed after his 'boss' left and looked at the computer. He'd been logging his hours so he'd get paid appropriately and frowned. He hated human gatherings; he understood them enough to get by but for the most part he preferred to avoid them when possible. Celebrations of birth and love and of dead leaders held nothing special about them and were just mild excuses for some to act out and get drunk. The true holidays however he didn't mind participating in; honoring the dead, celebrating the important lunar phases and solstices. Those were real, they had power and he took what he could when they came around.

He typed out the rest of the data for the past week and watched the clock in the bottom right corner of the screen count down the time remaining before he could leave. Like most days he was among the last people in the building and driving home in the dark didn t bother him. He liked the shadows and all that went on in them.

If he could just ditch the collar he could have a proper feast on the deeds done in the dark and bathe in the glory of humanities black underside as he had once upon a time before he came to the land of the Humans. Now he was lucky to get a good feed when he passed sketchy parts of town and trolled skin bars, it wasn t' as efficient as he like but it was better than nothing. Nothing is what he d get if he insisted on a direct feed that the collar denied him.

Well, maybe this one time he could attend, it wasn t like something as simple as a stack of birthdays could kill him. Not to mention maybe he d get a vicarious feed from the other diners and it would be fun.

The demon smiled as the minutes ticked by and let a wave of approving emotion fan back to the human soul he d kept. Maybe this one time they would attend but Salvatore would have to be in command so there would be no social mishaps. The soul wiggled happily at the thought of doing what it did best and hugged its host as best it could, it would enjoy that very much.

A week later Salvatore got out of the little deathtrap of car the demon drove, it was one of those thousands of cars that were recalled for being unsafe to drive and somehow the demon kept it from doing its worst. Maybe it was that light the soul got to see on occasion that was called K mar, he always saw if flit under the car before they got in

Yes.

Time to go in; meet some of the ladies maybe get a little lucky

Not interested.

Everyone needs some mushu and they hadn t had any since they d met, he was going to fossilize if he didn t get it out of his system because Sylvia was one fine woman well able to stiffen-

ENOUGH.

Fine but if they did get lucky he d be in charge because demons probably didn t know how to do that right either.

Don t push me.

Oh fine, but if it does happen .

IF it does I m not getting involved.  
>Fair enough but that was for later. Right now they had a party to liven up and drinks to be drunk and a chance to go home with company.<p>

Very true.

He stopped and checked their reflection in a window to make sure they were presentable. Val had suggested a turtleneck to hide the collar and from there the human soul had put together a casual outfit. Casual trousers a pair of soft leather shoes and a heavy leather jacket finished their look and despite it not being a suit it looked very well on them. The demon should opt to wear leather a bit more often it was not just for playtime.

Salvatore smiled as he walked into the little bar and grill he could see the lovely ladies from work at a large table in the back of one of the rooms. The demon wasn t paying attention to what was happening and was focused on something intangible so the human soul was free to life up the life he hadn t had during the Madness and Anti Wars. Sylvia waved them over and Salvatore submerged himself in the joys and trials of being outnumbered by women at a party. Looks like the liquor had already started flowing by the number of glasses on the table so chances were good that a sober guy could get the honor of driving a lady home and maybe get a little more than a simple thank you.

Salvatore strutted to the table and took a the seat Reggie had pulled out for him, time to be the charming young devil his mother had always teased him about being as a teenager.

They walked toward his car and the Auditor supported his hammered mortal boss while extending his senses to find the lurking presence he'd been detecting since before entering the restaurant. Salvatore had taken it upon himself to get frisky and that was good to a point before it became annoying and unwanted. Give the human credit though he d done it in such a way that the woman would likely write the contact off as their drunken state making them rather clumsy.

Regardless of whether it had been noticed or not the demon had taken control of the body and felt slightly put out that he d taken it back so easily. If he were any lest trusting of the soul he had acquired he d say Salvatore had planned on making his host handle a woman. The little snicker in the back of his mind did not inspire much confidence in the matter.

It took no time to locate the nuclei of the disturbance he d been sensing, in the shadows of nearby buildings some brutish men were tracking his progress and the negative auras they were putting out told him they intended violence. He guided her as though ignorant of the world and prepared one of the few defenses he was allowed to have since being collared, he d parked several blocks away and the chances to getting there before this trap was sprung would be slight at best. If they held off just long enough he'd have enough time to produce what was needed and...

"Hey, looking for a place to have some fun? I know this one spot..."

Sylvia in her drunken state chose that moment to speak up. "OH that's alright I'm taking him home with me."

"Well you see you don't really have any choice."

The dirty young man pulled a poorly kept Glock 17 with a lopsided smile on his face that bordered the line between that and s sneer. Auditor could see dried blood on the muzzle from its previous uses and watched the muzzle bob slightly; the wielder was either unsure of its use, cocky as hell about it, or uncoordinated. Behind he heard the faint shick of a balisong being prepared by an expert hand and in his peripheral vision a third human was crossing the street with a blunt object pressed against its leg. Well this was going to get interesting very quickly.

"We don't' want any trouble, and I'd hate to have to hurt you."

"Ya hear that boys? Pencilneck here thinks he can hurt us! Take the bombshell; we ll dump this asshole in the park."

While the ringleader with the gun talked Sal had been weaving a glamour to throw over Sylvia and tensed for action. He would have less than half a second to grab the filthy gun and keep the bullet from hitting him and during that time the trained knife wielder behind him would likely be on him. The thug with the aluminum bat would probably try to drag Sylvia away during the distraction so he had to finish quickly to keep that from happening.

As he had expected the chatty brute telegraphed his move to pull the trigger and the demon twisted his head to the side while grabbing the gun from below to keep the slide from clicking back to reload as the gun discharged practically next to his ear. There was a sparkle in the air as he dropped the spell over the woman next to him and he shoved her to the sidewalk next to his car as a sharp jab from behind told him the balisong wielder had lost no time in the confusion to try and take out his target.

The bat whistled through the air and hit him soundly on the back of the head hard enough to make the Auditor see stars for a moment before exhaling the noxious vapors he'd been producing and setting them on fire with a slight spell into the gunman's face. He hadn't had time to properly set it up so the gout of flame stopped short of roasting his opponents face.

"What the hell!"

The human let go of the gun and threw himself backwards away from danger while the demon whirled with the knife still sunk in and let lose a flaming arc on the other two. Batty recoiled and came back swinging like a bull on a rampage while Slick danced out of the way like a trained fighter to flank the demon. The thug wielding the bat plunged though the flames without noticing it and swung his weapon with one hand. It was easy to sidestep the bull apply just enough pressure to the leading leg to disrupt it's stride enough to send him flying into his smaller and better trained comrade.

By this time the gutless leader had finally gathered his wits and pulled out a second gun in much better condition and squeezed off three shots from two feet away. Sylvia screamed under the cover of illusion and Sal whirled to club the rearmed man on the side of the head hard enough to send him sprawling on the concrete and into dreamland.

The mulish thug with the bat scooped up his boss and ran away with his tail between his legs while the true fighter in the group snatched his blade from the ground where it had fallen during the brief struggle and followed suit after a shrewd glance at the would be target before trotting off after the other two. Just in time the demon had only devoted enough energy to the glamour to hide Sylvia for ten seconds at most.

He turned in time to see the spell peeling off the poor drunk woman in waves, she was panting and wide eyed like a doe caught in headlights. She was clutching at a cellphone with white knuckles and staring at the disguised demon as though she couldn t recognize what she was looking at.

Y-you. Those guys

Yes they re gone now. Let s get you home b-

They shot you. Hospital, you need to go to a hospital

It s alright I don t feel a thing, at most I got grazed. The demon coughed and flinched as fire barely missed tagging his car. He d have to work on that if he wanted to use that little perk again in the future. The injuries of his Skin were making him uncomfortable and the gasses he d labored to make during the party were being expelled before the ignition spell could fade away.

And you breathed fire, I mean I knew but I didn t know you really could. I thought it was just some kind of hoax or a circus act where you drink this one thing and light a match and boom fire breathing but you. You didn t do any of that you just DID it. Audi watched as the trembling woman stood shakily and fished her phone from her clutch and started pushing buttons at random before correctly dialing 911.

Salvatore sighed in the back of the demons mind and the Auditor had to agree with the humans sentiment about Sylvia being in a chemically induced high from her brush with possible harm, between that and being drunk she probably wasn t firing on all cylinders.

It was a shame he was so good at glamour s that no energy was wasted in the execution of the spell otherwise she wouldn t have been unable to make her call to the authorities. Not that something so simple would have stopped her, a small crowd was forming, people attracted to the disturbance and fire show, one of them would have had a phone. In fact some were making calls as they approached; this was bound to get tedious and messy now.  
> <p>


	7. Nevada Index  Salvatore Giordano

Nevada Indes

NAME; Salvatore Giordano (middle name not used)  
>AGE: 36 GENDER: Male HEIGHT: 5' 7"<br>WEIGHT: 147.23 lbs - 66.7824 kg NATIONALITY: Italian ANTI: UNKNOWN/UNCONFIRMED

STATUS: Employment visa works for Geotech Industry (secretary), Living with Valarie Cyurie [link] and Amos Smith [link], Collared to suppress natural abilities, monitored by the Agency.

POWERS: Increased agility and strength, Accelerated healing, fire breathing, resistance to injury.

NOTES: It's unknown what happened to this individual during the Madness and Anti wars as the subject has no memory of what happened during those times but evidence suggests he was close to the center of the Drives influence from what acquired abilities show. Abilities become more pronounced when the man is angry, caution is advised when his eyes shift to red. 


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Storm on the Horizon

It seemed simple enough at the time. Go to the house, pick up the file that was tucked under the doormat get back to the car where Hank waited and get his payment of cigs. Except the report was from the demon that had escaped death, and that still lived while masquerading as a normal person. Why wouldn t Hank do this himself Auditor was collared and completely unable to pull off anything without getting a painful shock? Man this didn t add up it was like he expected there to be a problem and was sending someone else to take the hit.

What was worse is that Audy had asked for an extension to make this damned report and had gotten it so the thing probably weighed sixty pounds about whatever it was he reported on. What the hell could it even be for, side effects of the Drives? Everyone was finding those out perfectly fine without the demons input

Deimos groaned and pulled his jacket closer to his body as if it could keep the biting wind from pushing through the thin material. Hank was not the best to figure out but on the few moments when he was calm and not itching for something to do he was calm and a hell of a lot like his anti. Man, if only Homicide had come with the proposition he d feel so relieved about being a delivery boy. Homicide seemed more or less stable and easier to be around, the Anti didn t put out a killer vibe as constantly an the Counterpart did.

The techie looked at the low hanging clouds in the sky under lit from the nearby highway signs and businesses. What was with this weather anyway, it was chaotic at best. Wasn t it supposed to be a good clear night but instead it felt like the world was taking a deep breath before a storm. Environmental nuts were howling about the unpredictable weather being a result of global warming or secret government testing or BS like that. Well maybe the warming part might be true but this was a little extreme to go from clear skies to imminent downpour.

One last flickering street light to go and he d be able to turn back and he d be able to turn around and get his payment from the maniac. Deimos stopped and blinked, Amos was crossing the street to the house with Deeohgee on a leash which explained why the house seemed oddly dark so early in the night.

Ho Dei, Val s out working late and the trolls at a party. You here for a visit or work related, because I was expecting someone a few days ago, bringing that thing in and out was starting to become a habit.

Deimos shrugged and kept pace with the old man as the motion detector light flicked on, not his fault the package wasn t gotten earlier. He was just a delivery boy this time.

Work then.

The old leet waved at Deimos and the dog looked at the smoker for a moment before sneezing and running into the house the moment the door was opened. Amos plucked the file from under the mat and handed it to Deimos with a smile and a wink before heading inside himself.

Thanks. Deimos walked away before the door had closed all the way and nonchalantly walked back to Hank and the packs of cigarettes that were waiting for him. Five minutes later the techie shoved the fat manila envelope through the window to Hank and waited impatiently as the bag with his prize was passed out.

Don t bother driving me back to the station, Hank. I ll call Sanford. Deimos stepped away from the car and walked under a streetlight so he could see what buttons he was pushing. Damn his phone it was partially broken and needed replacing, maybe he d get one of those hew 4G phones this time

Hank nodded and tucked the envelope under his seat and drove off. Now to see if Rapton senior could make sense of the report because the Auditors little pep talk wasn t reassuring and turning over something useless to the Agency was not something he wanted to take on. In the rear view mirror Hank saw Deimos take a phone out of his pocket to make a call; this was going to be one hell of a long and boring drive.

Jav sighed as he looked out the living room window before looking back down at the book that was cracked open in front of him on the table and taking off his glasses to clean them. "If the phone goes off I know something or someone will cause at least something to happen." He grumbled as he shuts the book. He stared at the cover for a time before a confused look crossed his face; he thought he heard something outside.

Hank killed the engine and rolled to a stop in front of Jav's house. The gravel driveway was noisy enough without adding the rumble of a car to the mix. Hell the guy had probably heard him from the far end of the driveway if the man s daughter was anything to go by. The killer yanked the keys of to the ignition and grabbed the files out from under the seat in one fluid moment before looking at the house. Unless the geezer was in there he wasn t stepping out.

Jav cracked open the door after watching the car for a while. He was glad that he installed the gravel driveway when he did. "Why...?" He trailed off as he eyed the driver, "You can't be serious." He frowned as he leaned on the doorframe now, unlike his daughter he wouldn't make a run toward the driver even if his life depended on it.

The driver stared at Jav through the window shield before swearing and throwing the door open, they could sit like this staring at each other for hours unless something happened so delaying was a waste of time. The door slammed behind him and Hank ignored the itching between his shoulder blades from being out in the open with only one gun to defend himself should he be attacked. Ah the price you paid when you were armed by what your opponents dropped for you when they died.

"You do know why I picked this location, right?" The mixture of lizard and man looked at his nails as he was still leaned on the frame. "I mean, you should've known as you're just as bad as I am." He sighs as he moved aside, letting Hank in with half open eyes as the mass murderer approached.

"No shit, I m just too damn irritated to play the game this time and don t you forget that." Hank pushed past Jav and hastily got out of immediate view from the door. No need to temp fate with another bullet hole to add to his collection of injuries and scars.

The lizardman cracked a smirk as he shut the door. "You know I'm not exactly like my daughter, trusting you with my own life... So what's the problem?" Jav growled as he kicked back a chair and flopped back down as he stared at the man, the blade in his pocket sure feeling heavier this time as he shoved his hands down his pockets. "I mean, I never really expected someone of your own status come to me."

How much do you know about the break in several weeks ago at the Agency?

"Only a few tidbits as the twins tend to keep me updated since I try to stay out of the daylight hours."

"Which tidbits did they treat you with?" Hank leaned against a wall and looked at the elder Rapton over the top of his red tinged glasses. Depending on how much was known he could leave certain parts of a lengthy explanation out.

"Knowing how you love it short, let's put it this way. The drives were taken after a power surge and an occurrence that is anything but natural. From how Rover was talking I had to slap it out of him a few times as he clammed up." He rolls his eyes before eying the folder, a familiar gleam in his eyes now. "And is that...what I think it is?"

"Fresh from the demons hide, Agency hasn t seen it yet but I d rather not be left in the dark by them." Hank dropped the file in front of Jav. This guy was well informed for someone technically not a part of the group at the base.

Ahank watched Jav pick up the folder with a hungry gleam in his eyes as he threw it open to skim over the reports contents. He stayed quiet as he flipped through the file, unblinking but soon taking off his glasses, it was a while before he spoke.

"You do know...this could get us both in flaming hot waters right? I mean all things are wanted as soon as possible for the Agency." He soon turned to the first page and squinted as he read.

"They can bite my ass if they think I m going to let them leave me out of this one. If Auditor is involved in this shit, again, I want to be the first to know so I can be the first to kill him. For good this time he's had too many chances."

He gave a chuckle before shaking his head. "That said demon can't be behind it. The collar renders him almost mortal in power standards." He looked at the killer with red eyes before returning to the file. "I mean...Homicide should know how well the essence tends to be for a power source." Jav said as he lazily pointed at him. He grumbled before ducking under the table real quick, pulling out a full backpack and hefting it on the table. "I'll try to be quick, but I remember so much from dad's texts it's both bothering and hurting my own head for once."

Hank watched Jav busy himself with the bag and kept his silence. Bringing those files here was a good idea things were already being done about them.

He slowly closed the file after using a book from the bag, the first one telling more than he wanted. "They...don't deserve this. This is not material to be left down as we...we're in some major troubles. I mean, think about it..." He goes quiet to let the killer actually think for once, hoping that he wasn't going to go through with it.

"Someone or something knew what to get, how to get it, and they got it fast. Could mean they could get it going again or know someone who CAN get it running. Someone who can break into top security without being caught is nothing something to ignore and hope things turn out for the better.

"The very point I came across myself. I mean...who would steal the drives if they don't know how to reform and rebuild the shit that caused us a harder life, hm? Also, bring your little buddy in as I have a feeling we're being watched now." He glanced over his shoulder at the window, even toward the vehicle in the drive.

"Stay here I m going to get my other gun." Hank pushed his glasses in place and walked outside toward the car, He d left Homicide there as insurance against mischief and thankfully his Anti was a master at hiding in plain sight and felt the scarred corner of his mouth twitching upwards as he saw a sawed off shotgun resting in the front passenger seat. Oh the joys of having a Weaponry Anti on hand to keep things interesting. He nonchalantly snagged it before heading back into the house, that s one for the home team and one confused eaves dropper if Jav's hunch about being watched was right.

Jav gave a chuckle as he eyed the sawed off shotgun. "Like Counterpart like Anti, Short and to the point." He glanced up at Hank with a smirk pasted on, "So how's the Weaponry doing?"

Homicide looked at Jav after reforming to his true from, the look in his eye was a dull but bored glance. "Fairly good."

Jav slowly nodded before looking at Hank. He felt their eyes on him now but he felt still at ease for some odd reason. "We need to think of something to keep Them from getting Their grimy mits on this."

"That's the problem isn t it, They can get practically anything from anywhere, that's natural in this world anyway." Hank looked at Homicide as a though percolated in the back of his mind. They were the Higher Powers that kept him alive despite his wishes and They loved nothing more than using Their toys harshly. During the Anti War however They seemed to have very little effect on the blue-blooded creatures the Sheriff had accidentally created Maybe an Anti should hold onto the information for safe keeping and since there was only one available at the moment...

"I see that look in your eye." The Anti spoke as he looked at Hank with unblinking eyes. "And I also know what you're thinking." He trailed off as he stares at the folder. "I mean I could keep it under wraps...or under portal."

Hank nodded and looked at the files in question, Auditor said the information it them could bring danger to whoever read them, he was right if They found out they were being kept out of the picture They would most likely fix the situation to satisfy their cruel sense of justice.

"Which way is more secure?"

"The way we're thinking is the least of our worries. They still can't sever the Chain, thus rendering the hiding effective. You should surely know from experience by now dear Counterpart." He gave a cruel grin for once as he took the files from the speechless Jav beside them.

"Now it's safe from Them but what are we going to do about it? Knowing and doing nothing is as good as being ignorant of the problem."

We need to tell someone else...but who can we really trust?" Jav muttered as Homicide was shoving the files the files into Hank's back after a few seconds had passed of the Anti just holding them.

Hank flicked a glance at his Anti and shrugged the sensations from the portal in his back off; if it didn't hurt it wasn t worth worrying about. "He mentioned some PI in the phonebook, looked the name up it s a woman in Washington state, claims to be a professional witch."

"I would talk to her myself but, you know. I don't have what I need..." Jav growled as he flicked the blinds open slightly to look out, Though we might not have much time either so I might have to wing it." The blinds clinked shut as he pulled his hand away before looking back at Hank.

"Half the drive here was like that. Damn surprised They didn t throw a semi my way." Hank checked the rooms exits, if they had no time to make a call there was no time to get to Washington to see the woman in person so like most things in his violent life he would be playing this one by the seat pf his pants. "What don t you have to test half the shit in those files?

"A lot of that, from Gorgon's files view, is supernatural. I'm not one to know of this stuff like they are." He flicks his glasses before putting them on, "You know I'm more of a scientific man than a...superstitious...don't tell him I said that." Jav frowns as he looks at his phone before grabbing it and shoving it in his pocket.

"I would say drop me off someplace near there but I don't want to be a bother. I have my own ways after a few visitations." He goes quiet as he grabs his coat. "I have my nightly walk as is to do..."

"Sounds like a plan, old man. I have to drop the stuff of there anyway and get the hell out of there before the shit starts hitting the fan, again." Hank smirked darkly; he's had the demons files copied so the Agency would be getting the duplicates while he, Jav, and Homicide had the originals. He was going to dupe the bastards that kept him going even if it killed him for good this time. "Get your ass moving once the engine starts I m not stopping."

"I don't carry my own weight for nothing, dead man... He growls as he walks out the door, glancing around as he fiddles with the keys while standing beside the door now. Once with death was enough for him but he's gotten used to it himself after seeing so much.

Homicide sighed before gripping the edges of the portal, already starting to morph into his Counterpart's back. "You know where I reside .

Hank stepped outside and closed the door behind him before lengthening his stride, he still had that itchy feeling of being watched and ducked into the car as quickly as possible to unlock the other door and kicked the engine to life. As much as he hated cell phones in general if this superstition crap Auditor and Jav seemed to believe in and acknowledge was real he'd need to keep one on hand to know when things were going to go down in that arena.

Think we should let Gorgon in on this?"

Leri s father gave a grunt as he pulled into the back seat, shutting the door and rubbed his arm. "I would...if I could."

"Gone into hiding again?"

Jav looked out the window and sighed. "As much as I hate to agree with you...I have to here." He spoke quietly as he kept his gaze out on the horizon. "Most of us had to...even my own daughter to a certain point."

Hank grunted in agreement and stared at the road ahead intently. I hope he shows up soon if this," Hank tapped the duplicate file on the dashboard, "is anything to go by."

"If he catches scent of the data, he will come." He tried to keep quiet now as his gaze turned to the floor of the vehicle.

"I'm sure he'll find out about it through the usual channels he has, the man s like a spider with how much he can possibly know about that he shouldn t. A bit like you really." Hank leered at Jav s reflection on the inside of the front window and drove just under the speed limit. A couple of guys in a car on the road were so ordinary it would be overlooked especially if they drove safely.

Hanks passenger couldn't help but chuckle at that as he shrugged. "We tend to get our info in the weirdest ways possible. Even if it means having someone who acts like a tiny overactive mutt on crack...speaking to you."

Hank chuckled with Jav for a moment before turning serious again. Oh that mutt was getting anxious more and more every time the killer saw him; something was bothering that one in a big way. Likely unrelated to the incident at the Agency but perhaps it could be looked into later when the trail ran cold here.

Speaking of that dog when is the last time you saw him?"

"Hmmm... About...a few weeks after that said outage. Before then I saw him back at the bar downing shots left and right. Why?" He found it on that Hank would ask a question like that.

"Future reference." Hank settled himself in for a long drive and kept his eyes pealed for then unexpected. This whole thing stank like a five day old zombie and unfortunately he was more than familiar with that scent.

Names Salvatore Giordano, Valarie Cyurie, Amos Smith

keeping all important names her 


	9. Sub arc: Project VALKYRIE

Chapter 8.1: Project VALKYRIE

Amos jerked awake as his chair tipped backwards and he slammed the back of his head against the floor hard enough to see stars and stripes overlaid on the stained ceiling of his room on base. The big man had fallen asleep reading an old favorite book from his childhood and had one of the strangest dreams he d had in years about living in some costal city with a pretty girl. There was no fighting he had a decent job and for some reason he rented a house with that cute purple haired girl and another guy he d never seen before.

It was a load of crap though he d been more or less forced into the A.A.H.W. because no one else was hiring and the pay, while poor, was enough to keep himself and his family from sinking to having to beg for even the basic things for survival: food, shelter and water. Oh it hadn t been easy by any stretch he d been a Grunt, the lowest of the low and fought hard to become what he was now, a leet agent. More perks more money giving orders instead of just taking them and one step closer to the big boss.

He d managed to go one step farther than the normal agents though, he d become a leet Guard. Exceptional leet s that stand in line for promotion to other commands and programs though no one really knew what happened to those that were promoted; most disappeared or were discovered on the KIA list that was sent out almost daily. There were rumors though; promotions to MAG ended in accidental death a lot more often than ATP promotions but with the ATP program you came out changed and at least had the chance to serve the Auditor directly instead of indirectly like everyone else.

Neither were very good choices but the pay was right and again his family would want for nothing if he lived long enough to keep them out of the streets in in a house that they d had for generations.

These thought occupied the large leet through the motions of getting ready for duty and occupied him so much that he didn t notice the door being opened or the ATP agent walking in until the shorter man spoke up.

Get your ass in gear I have orders for you from the boss.

Amos stifled a curse and threw his tie over his shoulder before turning sharply on a heel to follow the ATP out; the creep had a band on his arm that marked this one as under the black skinned creature s personal guard which probably accounted for some of the attitude. One thing he didn t particularly care for from the yellow blooded ATP s was how they treated grunts and agents alike as though they were little more than toys to be thrown about it only got worse the closer they got to the head honcho.

An hour later Amos was cramped in a truck reading the details of his new assignment with the equipment being shipped to the research post on southern Nevada serving as his only company. Dear god sometimes this job sucked, but at least he was going AWAY from the carnage and his next assignments seemed cushy enough, monitor some group of geneticists and report anything sketchy.

Did he say this was going to be cushy? It was so boring he was half tempted to request a transfer. These pencil necked white coats spent their waking hours with their noses pressed against computer screens and taking notes on whatever was in that tank they drooled over. Now he wasn t the sharpest tool in the shed but he did know the sound of an EKG when he heard one and while these vitamin D deficient fools denied it the leet knew beyond a doubt that there was someone in there.

Three weeks in and he had nothing new to report other than one of the pasty scientists broke a toe running into the lab when the monitors started flashing wildly and blaring warnings about whoever was in the tank. The next few days should get better though the scientists were getting excited about getting a handler for the project.

He just couldn t stand how these fools tried to leave him in the dark but the more they tried to keep him out the more he actually found out about Project VALKYRIE. He fulfilled their expectations so thoroughly that they became comfortable talking around the thick headed brute . Not that he cared to talk with them either, the pack of uptight snobs got on his nerves every time they deigned to speak and they knew damn well that the phrases and terms they used were beyond a normal agents immediate knowledge.

Oh he just HATED this place it stank like a hospital, no one was allowed to leave so the comfort of a sunrise or sunset didn t exist, there wasn t a shooting range for him to occupy his off time in and the food here made his stomach want to churn every time the buzzer sounded in the lab section for lunch dinner or breakfast. Why there was even a buzzer for when to eat in the first place, surely everyone knew what time it was to go get food for ones self.

Amos walked past one of the older geneticist in the hallway and gave the portly man a wide berth, not because he was fat but because something about the balding man made the leet uneasy. It wasn t the coke bottle glasses that made his eyes seem too large, it wasn t the nearly silver hair or the fact that he smelt of disinfectant and aftershave. It was something about how the man looked at you like you were just another rat in a cage that set his nerves on edge and made him want to get away as quickly as possible.

Ah, Mr. Smith just the person I wanted to see.

Well there went the get away quickly and hide part of the plan, maybe the old prune would make a few snide comments and leave it at that.

Dr. Berger, what can I do for you?

The glasses wearing scientist strained to put a smile on his face and adjusted his white coat to hide wrinkles on his trousers. Activity, fitness and even being outside were not something the geneticist did judging from how round and pale he was. Berger nearly the opposite of the leet who was fit, ready for combat on a moments notice and fairly tanned though that tan was starting to fade wince the sun never really shone anymore.

You ve been here a while yes? I just got your inquiries on our facilities since you won t be leaving until your assignment is done. We have no shooting range bout our security here they do need one most of them claim to have forgotten everything which make you being here quite good whipping them into shape by shaming these young men intro a frenzy by being out done by someone older. Not that it matters if they were any good they would have found a way to keep their skills.

This was a first, Berger never spoke to anyone this much as far as Amos was aware much less about something that benefited someone else. Everyone here believed that Fredrick Berger would gladly experiment on his mother and children had they survived and the leet believed the rumors. This man wasn t completely human anymore and looked at his comrades and associates like they were just means to a distant end.

Thank you Doctor, I look forward to supervising and maintaining my skills with a firearm.

Yes, the geneticist scratched his nose and pushed his glasses back on place, On another note I couldn t help myself, soon after you arrived I requisitioned your files to know what kind of watchdog that demon sent to spy on me, he could have done far worse. You are on the lists for promotion, probably the MAG program they always need strong specimens since the process is a strain on the body. Really humans are so weak just a few modifications and we could live-in the oceans or on the highest mountains with ease.

Amos felt his mind drift during the doctors ramblings, it was always the same. Talk about how weak humanity was and mention ways to improve it, he was just the kind of creep that committed genocide for the glory to the experiment rather than to benefit of mankind. Where had he been found anyway this wasn t normal talk for someone in the science community?

Incidentally Smith you know the death rates are high for both your options but there is a third yes? You could avoid such drastic alterations that those two programs offered for just a little bit of your time here. Become something truly worthy of the species! You re just what is needed, strong, competent, young and intelligent enough to handle the tests.

Did this guy have a problem shutting up? Jebus he must talk into a mirror until he fell asleep, his voice was annoying and his attempts to be friendly were agony to see in practice. It would be best to try and end this quickly before he had to choose between horrendous options to make the man shut his trap.

I don t see a need right now to be anything but who and what I am, it s kept me alive this long. Besides I can t abandon my assignment to be just another one of your experiments. I ve heard the screams at night; I d rather not join them.

The twisted man seemed flustered and his pleasant fa ade slipped right off for a moment exposing the greedy bastard underneath before the mask was pulled back on.

Well when you change your mind about enhancement-

If I change my mind about being one of your many test subjects I ll let someone know.

No, you let me know, my assistants are only so good yeah? You might end up like Torture, he should have been exterminated the moment he was finished. It went mad and killed everyone in sight until he was killed and revived on the Auditors orders. Adjusted of course, made a bit more docile by myself and my closest staff, and couldn t have it rampaging again on the wrong targets.

This was only getting worse. Amos chuckled thinly and turned to continue on his way since the good doctor couldn t take a hint very well, time to end this unwanted conversation decisively.

I ll keep that in mind. Good day Dr. Berger.

Eh, Amos-?

Amos stopped in his tracks and turned to give his unwanted company a cold glare through his red tinged glasses and looked the pudgy swine in the eyes.

Only my closest friends get to call me that. Good day.

The doctor shook the feeling of being looked threw off as the leet left him standing alone in the hallway, that gaze was so piercing and unearthly since those glasses made the specimens eyes look purple instead of their normal blue. The good doctor smirked and turned to go back to the main lab where his precious Valkyrie was being kept until it was complete, breaking that man would be a fun challenge with how much he chose to defy the facilities sole administrator.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The auditor sat at his desk looking over the reports from his little empire in North America. The madness he had cast was growing steadily each and every day and affected most of the world to some degree though it was only here in the United States that he had a firm grip on anything. Even then some of the people had developed a resistance and fought against forces they could not comprehend and the Agency gathered up the strongest of those people to fight as a cohesive unit.

Even some of his own men were defecting to the Agency but he managed to have most of those caught and used as examples to dissuade the undecided to stay where they were to avoid such a painful and public execution. Those that escaped and made it to the enemy camp however posed a serious problem with potential information leaks, nothing serous yet but at this rate there was going to be a serous leak.

The demon blinked and looked at his monitor; he had some mail from a priority channel. He clicked through his windows to check on the message and smirked. The leet he had reassigned nearly a month ago was exceedingly punctual about sending his reports in and kept the entries professional and delightfully short.

THERE ARE NO SIGNS OF CHANGE SINCE I ARRIVED THOUGH THE GREENER OF THE LABTECHS SEEM TO THINK VALKYRIE IS PROGRESSING TOO QUICKLY AND SEEM ANXIOUS ABOUT WORKING CLOSE TO IT. MY CONTACT HERE THINKS IT WILL BE FULLY AWAKE AND MOBILE A WEEK EARLIER THAN PROJECTED.

The demon leaned back in his chair and stared at the screen in thought. He wasn t surprised that it was going quickly or that these humans he d assigned to make his dream a reality were beginning to have doubts. Humans were animals and they were handling something supernatural down there.

The geneticists were so thrilled to ply their trade that they didn t think twice about the material they were grafting onto the human girl they were provided, they followed his orders and when given some of Jebus genetic material to add to the cocktail they were overjoyed to have such freedom to alter a living creature.

They should have worried though; their first sample was from a sweet little succubus he d spent quite a few nights with who had always been eager to please, it would be nice to see her again and thrill her with tales of his exploits in Assiah and curl up in her bower after his passion had been mostly satiated. Jebus s sample was added afterward to enhance the subjects natural abilities to move objects with the power of the mind.

Granted the girls ability as limited to paper and pennies at the time he d found the pregnant teenager but as he d promised Doreli she would become a force of seductive beauty and power to be reckoned with en that could bring men to their knees. With the allure if his beloved succubus and with luck the natural ferocity of gods one and only son he d have a Valkyrie of his own since Odin wasn t the kind to share his warriors without a steep price. Now he just had to make sure the girl was manageable.

His only oth3r concern is why that facility hadn t reported the change in their timeline; he d have to see to it that Fredrick Berger would regret it. But not in a direct way, that would defeat the point of his plans. The less these hairless monkeys knew the better. The whole facility would feel his disappointment at being kept in the dark even if it meant leaving them to die. 


	10. Sub arc: Project VALKYRIE part 2

Chapter 8.2 Candidates

Berger sat at his console and waited for the Auditor to sign in, things were reaching a critical point and he needed to have a wider pool of candidates incase VALKYRIE found the current selection inadequate. With what they ve had to deal with while it slept there would be hell to pay if it wasn t attached to a handler and leashed quickly. That and since he had last talked with the new leet he had a haunting suspicion that the watchdog was starting to snoop around into things it really shouldn t be getting involved in, without being a part of them at least.

The doctor smiled when he noticed his sponsor logging in and ty0ped out the standard greeting and niceties. There would have to be an unveiling of some information to go with this request and some brown nosing to ensure he got what he wanted but such things were standard fare for a man of his stature.

THINGS ARE GOING WELL?

The man bit his lip and typed out a response. Oh yes things were going well perhaps a little too well he would need some candidates for handlers a bit sooner than anticipated and some more test subjects, The last batch was defective and didn t last long. There was a pause as the big boss wrote a reply and the scientist scowled at what he saw thrown his way.

THE SITUATION HAS TAKEN A DIRE TURN ON MY END. THAT CLOWN IS RAMPAGING SO I CANNOT SPARE ANYONE TO YOUR ENDEAVORS. YOU HAVE ENOUGH STAFF ACCORDING TO MY RECORDS TO DO AN ADAQUATE JOB; YOU WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH WHAT YOU HAVE.

What he had! He had a load of incompetents, mindless assistants, the experiments and one of the demons watchdog!

YOU ARE HAVING A PROBLEM WITH MY DOG?

The man snatched his hands form the keyboard and growled. This had to be deliberate, every few days that lapdog of a leet sent out an encoded data packet on a priority channel right to the Auditor.

HE IS VERY LOYAL AND AGREEABLE IF YOU TREAT HIM THE RIGHT WAY. LIKE ANY ANIMAL STROKE IT THE WRONG WAY AND YOU GET ITS TEETH. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING DOWN THERE?

Fredrick physically pushed himself away from the computer and ground his teeth together to keep from typing something he d regret. Either he was being toyed with or the agent in question really was only reporting about the Project, best to err on the safe side and leave it as a difference of opinion.

THAT S ALL?

The doctor bit his cheek and waited as his sponsor quickly typed out another reply.

I SEE I WILL HAVE TO STEP IN AND GET HIM TO BEHAVE FOR YOU. SHAME YOU WERE UNABLE TO MAKE HIM COMPANIABLE.

The doctor narrowed his eyes as a file was sent simply titled How_to_train_your_. After downloading it and looking it over the doctor smiled darkly and printed the document out. Oh that would work to get the balky mongrel to obey, especially since he was now going to have to be included in the assets in the facility to ensure that VALKYRIE wouldn t run wild. Already the drug regimen that would make it latch onto someone with the right talents that it found compactable was being administered, the trick however would be ensuring it did indeed attach to another being.

The pool of handler s would need something similar to be receptive to the experiments questing mind and it would have to happen quickly before the temporary state of telepathy drove the telekinetic mad. Of course before any drugs could be administered for potential handler s he d have to identify who in the facility was even capable of such a thing. It was regrettable that both PSI talents couldn t naturally exist in any one person but it seemed a state of calm required for one was denied by the inundation of the other. Oh he d have such fun putting everyone through the wringer!

Something different was happening today, everyone seemed excited about something and group s pf people stopped what there were doing to head to the underground laboratories. Nearly two weeks after his conversation with Dr. Berger about volunteering for enhancement, this had not led to a denial of offered services. He now sparred with some of the bruisers that kept the more violent cases from doing harm to anyone and bested several of the ones that were enhanced with his unusual martial arts practice.

Oh it had been fun showing that off, the Mantis style he d begged his mother to sign him up for as a kid an on through high school, granted he found out there are actually two different mantis styles so he learned both and the Southern style developed by the Hakka people best suited his current life. No one expected a large man with a muscular build to be so fast and darting forward to deal several blows designed to cause injury while reducing exposure. And it a way it was better than Butters kickboxing.

James Butters was interesting, he was one of the enhanced enforcers Berger used and he was a pretty decent fellow, stoic, humble and very quiet. He was the first to spar with the normal and that acknowledgement started the others to try and best the newcomer who had pulled a win away from one of their own. Now it was getting to a point in this unusual training that he was learning that combining northern and southern styles with standard hand to hand techniques he had learned during his training here allowed him to successfully pull a draw then sparring with three or fewer enforcers but more than that and he d eventually be forced to concede defeat which they enjoyed to no end.

That combination of techniques sounded easy but in practice it was hard to pull off, hand to hand and Southern Mantis was easy enough to combine because the two very closely resembled street fighting. The Northern style flowed and looked a bit like you could be dancing but the pose was so unique and allowed for easy blocking and counters, it was perfectly modeled after the insect it was named for.

Amos was forced from his daydream when he finally noticed the geneticist how had been pestering him about volunteering make a beeline for him in the cafeteria. Oh dear god what now? He looked like he was having about to get a hard on and there was an official looking document in his hand.

The doctors smile dripped with venom and rotten honey as he drew close enough for the leet to see the seal on the page.

Ah Mister Smith I have some wonderful news just now. You ve noticed the change in the routine yes? Of course you have you re not blind.

Amos just looked at the nearly boyish look on the geneticists face and felt a cold knot of doubt and fear starting to take up residence where his stomach had been. He looked ready to rip the wings of a bird at this moment with a smile and his ever fanatical glee to enhance things. And like he was looking something over for enhancement on lord .

YOU are going to be joining the next group to the laboratories my friend, now before you start your silly protests I have something for you. The doctor dropped the document in front of Amos and watched as comprehension dawned on the lapdogs face. Oh it was starting to see it was going to get caught, only it was already caught it just didn t know it yet.

We thought you might try to avoid your duties here now that you are under my command so I was forced to get proof of such. Butters will lead the next group downstairs. I trust you remember who that is? Good, see you then, my friend~!

Amos was left with no appetite, a sinking feeling, and a sighed authorization that he submits to all things that were required for Project Valkyrie. How could he know what was was official and what was the doctor just having fun?

Well here he was in a staging area with fifteen others all waiting for the go ahead to enter one of the three large elevators that were going to go to the labs. For security reason the elevators were isolated from the rest of the building by airlocks and each elevator was in its own locked room which in turn was locked with a special key that only Berger s assistants had. Once down there was no way of getting back up.

Hey there, you look kind of nervous. And big, you one of those MAG s I heard about?

Amos jumped and looked down to see who was talking. It was a kid, maybe just old enough to drive with an untidy mop of dirty blond hair greenish brown eyes and freckles all over his face. Slight build maybe four foot even and a marshmallow that likely would become a human shield during an attack He d seen the kid running around generally being a gopher and managing to avoid all of Bergers advances unlike the leet.

No, I m just really tall. I m Amos, Amos Smith and you are?

Oh I did forget that part didn t I? Lawrence Mitchell, I uh kind of joined the A.A.H.W. so I could be my own man and not have to listen to my old man you know? I must say it s been pretty good. I met this one guy named Deimos who s as old as me and he s a genius with computers and stuff. Loves taking them apart and putting them back together.

The leet felt himself smiling as the group was being herded to the elevators, well at least he found someone friendly after being here for a month. The elevators were large but there were so many in the group that even having seven people in the small space forced you to be closer t5han you might otherwise have liked.

Reminds me of home. Parents were one of those religious nuts where the more kids you have the better. I never got that part of it, the house was crowded all the time and you never got to keep your things because it belonged to whoever was oldest in the room.

Amos chucked and pushed his glasses in place with one finger oh he knew the feeling all to well.

I was the third of five kids, not including my cousins since my dad was part of a big family.

Really? Seems we got a lot alike. Oh hey look! Lawrence shuffled to make a bit of space against the wall and pointed at the floor where a row of nubs stuck out from the wall they were too large to be bolts.

What are they? Amos resisted the urge to bend over and get his hands on one, not only would it be obvious but there wouldn t be enough room to get down there for a good long look.

Those are nozzles probably link to pressurized tanks; they use them to put the people the experiment on asleep if they get violent. Good thing too they are right nasty pieces of work. I swear one of them a zombie or something. I was down here once making a delivery and .

Amos lost track of what Lawrence said and thought about all the reasons someone would need to have nozzles that would pump gas into a locked elevator that only moved when certain conditions were met. No matter how he came at it he ended up with one uncomfortable solution, gassing a target that s unaware it s been marked.

The faint clicking of metal made few aware that someone else was around; the owner of the sound looked around carefully. He had one thing on his mind and he had to find Berger, a file folder under his arm. He hated having to find this geneticist as he didn't like talking to the ones that worked for him. "How hard is it to find one person here?" He grumbled as he pulled the bill of his top hat over his eyes at a few looks but stopped at the sight of someone taller than the rest of everyone there. He couldn't help but stare in thought.

"Alright Butters will take you too the candidacy rooms, you follow his orders and you will be able to walk away without having to sleep something off, yes? Nurses will be along shortly to get you prepared for the testing and there will be a small waiting period as the rest of your group is brought down"

Frederick frowned as the sheep were herded into the large waiting room that was usually used by his assistants to oversee several experiments at once. The task of having to test everyone in the facility necessitated this but still it was regrettable. The candidates could see what they would be going through when it was their turn.

The lone yellow gaze turned from Amos at the sound of Berger's voice. "Finally, Jebus someone had to make it hard." He pulled the file from his arm and made his way toward the head man, waiting for a good time to pull him aside to hand the files.

Berger watched the group file into the room and turned to nearly plowed into his cane bearing visitor. "Eyyah! What have I told you about that silent stalking?"

"I was only waiting sir. Didn't want to bother you while you were watching the pigs..." He tried not to smirk as he leaned back, stepping back as he was a little too close for his own comfort. "Mostly to give you some information on the next group that's coming. Don't know why he wanted me to give them to you personally but oh well."

Warden only shrugged as he watched the lines file into the other room, handing Berger the file without really looking at him. "Though I see a few good men in this one here..."

"Good ones? You haven t gotten a good look at them yet. Likely none of them have the traits I need and one of them belongs to that damn demon that I know of." Berger ground his teeth together and watched his men lock the candidates room and go upstairs to get the next batch. If he even found one good man in all this it would be a miracle.

"Keep it up and you'll find someone eventually. It's hard as the said demon takes the best ones for himself...I would know." He gave a sigh and took off the hat to shaking his head without it wobbling. "Though...which one is it that the dark one has his mitts on this time?" He looks over the group as he leans on the cane.

"The tall one, Amos Smith. Strong willed bastard and defiantly stubborn despite my best efforts to recruit him."

"Ahhh, the same one that caught my eye to be honest. Had a feeling he was one of the whelps." He grumbled slightly before looking over his shoulder. "He isn't on the Program is he? I just want to get that off my mind to know if my eyes failed me for once."

"Which program, the creature that funds my work has several based here."

"Oh yeah...nearly forgot, He could only scoff before tapping a nail on the cane. "The Magnification Program, He gave Berger a side glance. "The size nearly suggests he was one of the failed that he kept."

"That I wouldn t know, I just got confirmation to have him obey my orders as they relate to one of the newer projects but I cannot get a hold of his records. HE hasn't exactly been to talkative with my people so it's either hack the system or get him talking with special inducements..." the doctor smirked and looked at Warden as though inviting the yellow eyed man to figure out what should be done.

Warden seemed to hum slightly as a gleam came to his eyes. "I have many ways but they don't come cheap usually." He said with a chuckle and turned to Berger with a smirk. "If I didn't I wouldn't really be here handing you that."

"Trust is always an issue these days. Sometimes you have to be patient and let that break down the walls. It does help." He said quietly, still looking at Amos from him spot. "Though...sometimes they're stronger than you would want them."

"You know once it's his turn I can arrange some alone time. I had to repurpose some rooms for this project s, IF you really want to know if he s a MAG or not I can have something added to the IV and we can find out the answer to that question." 


	11. sub ard: Project VALKYRIE part 3

Chapter 8.3 Testing

Amos doubts mounted once the entire group was in the little conference room they been taken too. The windows were thick enough to stop bullets and overlooked smaller rooms with a cold heartless look to them. The nurses had given everyone a shot glass of some reddish liquid to drink that smelt like cough syrup and tasted like glue.

Along with the cup of medicine everyone had to drink there was also a need for a shunt for the tests so lines had formed quickly, organized by the enforcers, to get a shot of local anesthetic in the back of a hand so that an IV could be inserted once it was your time to get locked into a chair. They injected so much a bubble of the stuff formed under the skin and the hole left by the needle puckered up immediately after the metal was removed so none of the stuff was squeezed back out. Already his bubble had flattened out and worked its magic; he felt nothing when he rubbed the skin where he d gotten the shot.

Smith! You re up.

Amos looked across the room at a currently nameless enforcer of Bergers who was holding a clipboard in his beefy fist, and a pen in the other hand. The guy looked like he s sucked on a lemon and hadn t gone to the bathroom in a week. That added to the military haircut and hawk like gaze made the leet think that the man was a marine reject from boot camp that happened to get lucky with this job where being a brute was a plus.

He muttered and walked over to the thuggish man and suffered with being walked down one of the twisting hallways to a testing room with a heavy hand on his shoulder constantly. There wasn t anywhere else to go or a way to avoid being caught if he did try to run, any attempt would get you in trouble and in Amos s case likely reassigned to a much worse fate than this.

The room was actually one he d looked into from the conference room and even if he hadn t looked in the chair left little to the imagination, whoever sat in it was going to get strapped down and held there until they were released. Attached to the back of the chair was a large machine with several monitors that checked routines things you would expect in a hospital and more. If he had to guess the helmet he was going to be wearing once he was strapped down would be monitoring how his brain was working.

That would have been fine if you ignored the restraints at arm and leg positions that were maybe five inches long padded on the inside and made of metal. Worse still is that it took a key to unlock them and up close and person the thought of being a prisoner in that thing was making his stomach desperately want to get away.

Take your jacket off and roll up your sleeve of the numbed hand so we can get the I.V. in and please have a seat.

The nurse gestured toward the char and watched Amos with professional detachment as he stripped off his jacket and glasses before undoing a sleeve and pulling it up. Once he was down and the nameless enforcer had started locking his legs in place the woman, who was in her late thirties at most and good looking regardless. She approached with a plastic board and a roll of surgical tape and reached for Amos partially bare arm.

Excuse me Amos pulled his arm back toward his chest and flinched as the brute clamped the restraint down on is other arm so quickly that it caught skin and hair. The raw need to ease that pain that drove him to struggle to get the caught flesh free, it also allowed the person responsible for the sudden burst of pain to grab the free arm by the wrist and pin it against the armrest.

Not so rough Weiss, he doesn t pose any threat as he is now. Mr. Smith this is just a precaution to keep you from hurting your self with the needle incase you react positively to the stimuli.

The woman, with the generous help of Weiss, taped the restrained mans arm to the board and swiftly stuck a needle in the back of the numbed hand before the last metal cuff was locked down. There was no way out but forward and his arm still stung where the restraint had grabbed skin through his long sleeved shirt.

The unpleasantness could have been avoided if you had not resisted Mr. Smith.

Weiss chuckled darkly and pushed the chair towards the machines until it shifted to a reclining position with a heavy sounding click. Amos felt his heart beat pick up as the last restraint was pulled across his chest, tightened and secured, maybe this had been a mistake to just accept that the authorization was really from the Auditor. Maybe he should have insisted on looking it over to make sure it was real since he wouldn t put it past that gene twisting freak to fabricate something like that.

He was abruptly brought out of his anxious thoughts as the nurse bent over to grab the helmet behind his head with a flash of one hell of a deep chasm he hadn t seen before because of her shirt. The sudden exposure of flesh caught him off guard the same way Weiss had with the restraint and before he could blink the soft curves from his minds eye the helmet was down and secured. Well that had been very effective and far less painful, and also very sad. He had trained not to be surprised in new situations so either he was losing his edge or needed a woman in the worst way.

Blinded and unable to move the pair finished hooking the machines to the captive before Amos was finally left alone. An EKG hammered out the frenzied dance his heart was doing and he gripped the arms of the chair as his fear mounted. It looked fine from that room but having it happen to you was very different. The restraints tightened like pressure cuffs firmly kept him from wriggling his arms and legs without sacrificing blood flow. He felt about ready to throw up or to empty his bowels whichever happened to come first followed by the other option.

You need to relax.

Berger s voice, as unwelcome as it always was, startled Amos into flinching and he turned his head to try and figure out where the man was, it sounded like he was in the room and very close.

Try not to move your head too much; the cables on that particular helmet have gotten a little loose since we started. If we can t get good readings from you you ll have to do this again tomorrow.

Readings for what! You ve done a damn good job keeping me in the dark

I can see you saying something Mr. Smith but there s no receiver in that helmet only a pair of speakers so you ll have to use some hand signals to communicate with us. You ve watched the others so this should be easy, closed fist with your thumb sticking out is no and open hand with only your middle and ring fingers touching is yes. Do you understand so far?

Speakers, so the doctor might not be in the room. That made him feel a little better for some reason and he took a shaky breath before signaling yes with his right hand.

Good. Do you understand that you shouldn t move your head?

Another yes.

Good then we can begin.

How about not! Amos curled both his hands into fists and shot the doctor as strong a no as humanly possible before uncurling the left one when he remembered about the needle. Not feeling anything when you had a piece of metal shoved under your skin was the best way to hurt yourself.

That wasn t a question Smith, the doctor s voice quieted like he had turned to talk to someone else, Begin on my mark.

Doctor if I may? Perhaps I can get him on board.

That was the nurse that had flashed him! Speaking of which if her cleavage had been a grenade he would have been dead but damn what a fine view, it was like looking into the Grand Canyon.

You have two minutes.

Thank you, sir. Amos could just imagine those full red lips curling into s sultry smile and the EKG beeped a slightly different rhythm behind his head. Perhaps you are confused? Everyone else knows what this testing is for but until recently you were kept in the dark for security reasons. Is this your concern?

Yes. He stopped for a moment and followed it with a no. He didn t really care that they were keeping him away from a secret project what bothered him was why he was suddenly forced to be a part of it.

Part of your concern?

He thought a moment before signaling the yes followed swiftly by no.

Maybe?

Yes.

We only have a minute left Mr. Smith so I ll summarize this as well as I can for you. Project VALKYRIE is nearly ready to enter its next phase and for that we need someone with high empathy of a special kind to be on hand to stabilize it once it s fully awake. Your boss is unable to screen any candidates and send them over so we have to scan our own staff before things become critical. There s only a 20% chance that you will qualify but wouldn t it be nice to rule yourself out now and not have to deal with that chair again?

Oh god yes.

Then let s get started, you ll have to calm down a bit though your vitals really are elevated so you re not going to give us a clean reading, how about the easy method first.

Amos wondered what this easy way was when his ears were bombarded with a low discordant tone that set his teeth on edge. It was like scraping your teeth on sandpaper or biting down on a bit of bone in a good piece of steak that was supposed to be boneless if such things were turned into a sound.

By translating your brainwaves into a sound we can get a fairly good idea of your emotional state. It s a technique used in some forms of therapy where patients are asked to emulate a tone in the hope of promoting permanent changes in the brain over several sessions but for now we need something temporary from you.

He heard a second tone, this time it was something in the medium range and made him think of a mint ice cream cone on a hot summer s day. It sounded a lot nicer than the one before and he felt somewhat relieved at the disruption in the low rumble he d experienced moments before..

This is the sound of emotional calm we d like you to achieve before we begin the real testing. Fell free to play around with the tonal changes; you will get a reminder of the sound we d like you to reach every two minutes. I ll let you know when we start the actual test.

Amos smiled ruefully and fanned his fingers for a yes. The nurse really was a hell of a lot nicer than he d first thought or perhaps she was looking out for this project by getting balky agents to cooperate.

He heard the discordant tone shift slightly upward on the scale and settled into the restraints and chair as comfortably as he could. If what was going on in his head was making the sounds he was hearing then no need to make himself uncomfortable and force Berger to initiate whatever tests he had in mind and end up broken like some of the people he d seen here.

Berger walked back into the control room with a cup of black coffee in hand; things had gone smoothly with minor setbacks from a few people and faulty equipment. Rooms two, four and seven would require maintenance before they were used tomorrow and an electrical problem had taken room three out of the equation until all the wiring was replaced.

Status report, Annalie.

Berger took a sip from his mug and cast a bored glance at his only female assistant. Perhaps he should get more women on his staff they were exceptionally good at making male subjects get in line like she had with Smith. One casual exposure of flesh and a show of concern and the big fellow had quietly submitted to necessity without further protest.

On cue Anna turned to face her superior in a swirl of pin straight black hair and took in all details, from the mugs contents to his manner of speech and her sea green eyes sparkled with amusement.

There are indications that Lawrence may have just the talent we need for this project. Smith has held stable for fifteen minutes and is finally ready to proceed with testing, with your permission of course.

The project director nodded and dispassionately watched as his assistant put a headset on to let the problematic agent know they were proceeding just as she had said she would. What nonsense in his opinion, you didn t ask your test subjects if they wanted to be tested you just did it.

He kept his eye on the monitor dedicated to room two and felt a deep satisfaction in his chest to have this man helpless and waiting to whatever was handed him through the helmet. The first stage was simple enough, could he empathize with images shown him of people in distress based on pictures taken by a second party.

From there it would get more specific as they targeted what made him react strongest and with the aid of the medication he had been given he d become so engrossed by the input that he d react by reaching out to ease the perceived distress. If he could reach out, if they could indeed get an accurate reading of that extension of being either positive or negative his fate could be decided.

Minutes ticked by and at the onset of the second stage the monitor that tracked active ESP started to jump in the low range, strictly being able to feel pains on your own body that actually belong to another person. Forty minutes into the test the subject started showing physical signs of discomfort as the computer started narrowing the images it displayed based on his reaction to previous scenes and sounds.

The geneticist sat down at a terminal and accessed what was being requisitioned for room two and grunted as scenes of combat, domestic violence and for contrast homey scenes of families spending time together. The first one was understandable given the way things were now. The last one perhaps was a key to Smiths past or hopes for the future and the middle one left a lot open, had the agent lived with such violence as a boy, committed those acts himself or perhaps feared them?

As the test entered it s second to last stage the ESP needle began to bury itself in the high range as combat scenes were brought in from footage taken of Hank Wimbelton cutting through men with inhuman ease. Well this was getting interesting but what was bringing about the reaction?

Berger was only partially aware of another of his assistants dispatching James Butters to room two with instructions to sedate the agent should he start doing himself harm despite the steps taken to prevent it. The computer was singling out situations where the point of view was from someone trying to protect their unit from the maniac and it seemed that these scenes were triggering Amos to bury the needle for a short time.

Perhaps he was too good at getting to bury it, the monitors started blaring in his room as he began having palpations and to his untrained eye the agent was having a heart attack. James rushed into the room and clamped a rag over Smiths nose and mouth while the agent thrashed in the chair, what WAS that man doing?

Before the geneticist had grabbed a headset to bawl orders to his staff near the testing rooms Ronald Shabaz rushed into room two and started shouting at James. The two were not well matched for such a confrontation, Ronald was of thin build with piercing gray eyes and the strength of a mouse while James was built like a nightclub bouncer.

While the two had their shouting match Amos settled down and thankfully his vitals dropped to the rhythms f drugged sleep. Not a heart attack but concerning all the same, now it was time to sort his subordinates out. Berger put the headset on and flicked the mic with ease before picking up audio from the room.

-oaf! You don t rush in and disturb-

If you d get your head out of your ass for one minute and listen!

SILENCE BOTH OF YOU.

Both men stopped and looked toward the camera tucked away in a corner of the room and essentially at their boss. Well trained help wasn t the easiest to get a hold of but if you looked hard enough it was possible. The problem was when personalities clashed in the work place; it was not conductive to a stable environment.

Shabaz check the subject for damage. Butters you had better have a good explanation for your actions.

Sir I was following orders from Annalie to sedate Smith if he began to have a severe reaction to the test.

And what assurances did you have that you weren t going to make the situation worse?

Shabaz looked had his hands on Amos and pulled the rag off the subjects face before nodding at the camera and walking out. What fortune that there was no immediately noticeable damage.

Sir I grew up seeing panic attacks in my family they can last for ten minutes easily, sometimes an hour which becomes a real problem. With his struggling he was going to damage your equipment so I stopped the attack before it ran its course.

Panic attack eh? That was going to take some looking into and verification on top of that it would be best to finish the test quickly and move Smith out of the room so it could be serviced.

We are going to put him through the cool down part of the test once he s awake, I want you to put a longer lasting sedative in that IV so we can have him out of there without problems or risk of another of these panic attacks you mentioned, and if I remember from my schooling correctly the memory of one attack can trigger another. Take him to the recovery room closest to the staging area for candidates. Proceed with your orders.

Berger watched James pull a plastic chair over to the agent and noted that Shabaz had walked back in, likely to measure out the sedative. Ronald saw anyone who wasn t a researcher as incapable of doing things correctly so he was always there when enforcers had to handle chemicals. This was getting complicated; he was going to have to see for himself what kind of damage Smith had acquired as soon as he was moved to the other room.

The sound of the sea lulled Smith out of unconsciousness and birds called to each other somewhere. If he could just open his eyes ad see what was going on, wasn t he in a room and held down to a chair for some kind of test? Amos opened his eyes and saw blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds and on occasion white and gray birds with black wingtips. He d never gotten to seem them up close but those birds had to be seagulls

Amos turned his head to get a better look at what was around him but no matter how he moved the view didn t change.

Take it easy, you had a pretty rough time of it. The voice sounded like Butters but it was muffled and sounded far away.

What s going on? Is that you Butters? He twitched when someone pat the back of his right hand and sucked a breath in between his teeth. That whole arm from wrist almost the elbow was sore and throbbing.

Yeah it s me, after everything you ve been through today I d say you earned the right to call me Jim. You had a really bad reaction and blacked out during the test. If I had my way you d be out of that chair and in your room but I don t make he rules here

Berger? That freak really was starting to get on his bad side with all the vaguer excuses and insistence on altering people.

Bingo

The ocean view had changed during the conversation and Amos was now looking at the ocean as dolphins played in the waves. The only thing that could make this illusion any better would be a pretty woman and maybe feeling the reassuring warmth of the sun on his skin. Oh, speaking of pretty ladies

She flashed me; right at the beginning after Weiss almost tore my arm off. Long black hair, reddest lips and green eyes, never heard her name but what a view. Amos wasn t aware that his words were slurring or that it was taking him a little longer to respond, he was starting to feel tired and a long rest after he walked out of this room sounded divine.

Sounds like Annalie Conner; she sure is a looker isn t she? It s a shame she s married to science or I d take a pass at her, make no mistake.

Wouldn t blame you with measurements like that, the leet yawned and jerked awake after dozing off for a few seconds, for a moment it felt like he was falling. Sorry, I m so tired after being in this room so long.

Hey don t worry about it. You feel like sleeping then you go ahead and sleep. I promise nothings going to happen to you while I m here.

Thanks He fell asleep to the sounds of an ocean he d never seen in person with a relative stranger in the room holding his hand and locked into a chair like a criminal about to get electrocuted.

Berger watched with malicious glee as Butters plucked Amos out of the wheelchair and set him on the small bunk with care before throwing a light blanket over the agent. He hadn t expected to be able to hold power for the large man for an extended amount of time and relished the thought of forcing the lapdog to obey. Of course it was a trifle disappointing that a panic attack had halted the testing, quick thinking on the dark skinned enforcers part has stopped this subject s mindless thrashing long enough for sedatives to be administered.

The doctor made room while his men retreated and caught sight of the cane wielder he had been talking to earlier about the person currently laid out in the room It seemed the bear just couldn t keep his paws away from the honey pot no matter how hard it tried to resist. With a wink and a nod Berger left Warden unattended outside the room and whistled a little tune as he went.

Warden watched before sliding his cane between his shoulder blades as he walked over to Amos' sleeping body. He only needed a few minutes to search for the marks that quenched his thirsty mind. He stared at the face for a while before reaching near his neck, careful not to scratch the sleeper up as he felt around. There were telling signs of the Magnification process, things that were there even if the treatments didn t work as expected and long after the person recovered from the ordeal.

"Well that answered my question." He said with a sigh, a little relieved he wasn't looking at another failure on the demon's part. He backed away after a little while and walked out of the room with crossed arms. Not a MAG, just a vanilla human of unusual size. 


	12. sub arc: project VALKYRIE part 4

Chapter 8.4 - Valkyrie rising

Three weeks since he'd waken up in a bed in the basement of the facility with Lawrence passed out in a char next to him and Butters, who now insisted on being called Jim, and a lot had happened since then. Everyone deemed worthy of being a candidate had their things moved to a large room that resembled a camping cabin with bunk beds pushed against the walls, Wardrobes to hold personal items a communal bathroom and a kitchen.

Those first days had been awkward until Lawrence told Amos that his red glasses had been picked up by Berger and the big man did what had become natural and pulled them out of the inside pocket of his coat. It was passed off as routine until Berger stormed in demanding to know who had taken them and when no one could say for sure where Amos had gotten them from the doctor stormed out and started howling to see the security tapes to find the person responsible.

Then it got interesting and a little fun when the leet had let them in on the secret, no agent COULD lose their glasses. The group wouldn't believe it but after a few days of playing around with Amos they came to accept that even if he forgot where he put them and someone else was holding onto them the glasses always disappeared and reappeared in their owners pocket. The only exception was when Amos handed them to another person and then it fell to that person not to lose them or the item would revert to the agent.

The game of keep away brought the group of twenty-three men, from wildly different backgrounds, closer together and made the ones not connected to the facility curious about what happened with the rest of the A.A.H.W. Lawrence was happy to oblige them and encouraged Amos to do the same once the novelty of glasses you could never lose wore off.

In the second week Hendricks, one of the enforcers that turned out to be a candidate, accidentally knocked the agents glasses off a table and stepped on them. This lead to another wave of show and tell where everyone tried to break them to prove that the spectacles COULDN'T be broken and Amos had to let go of another piece of information to quench their curiosity.

High ranking Agents had glasses that couldn't be broken by normal means, normal meaning with only bare hands or hand held tools (guns would destroy them but Amos didn't like thinking about what that implied), since they served as more than a visual cue of rank. They were curious since a few had cut themselves on the exposed half inch of knife sharp metal at the temple and he had to decide how much he could safely tell without compromising his position so he told them his thoughts about why something so small and replaceable might have become remarkable.

Low-level agents had black glasses that could be lost, taken and broken and the mid ranks had glasses that were the same except for a reddish tint to the center of the lenses. Once they became high-ranking agents, the Auditor himself replaced the normal pair with a red pair like the one they'd had all been playing with. They served as dog tags incase someone couldn't be identified and more but that was classified for security reasons. Whatever it was that made them return to the one person they had originally been given to and withstand damage was unknown, all signs pointed to the demon as its source.

The group wasn't satisfied with that explanation but most let it go when his discomfort started to be picked up. Ever since they'd been isolated downstairs a daily regimen of drugs had been administered, anyone who refused to take them willingly were forced to take them with generous help of Weiss and Hendricks. They knew all the tricks too so faking your pay to not taking them only put you in hotter water than before.

The cocktail of pills and liquids made them all feel slightly nauseous for a few hours but the intended goal was increased empathy. To further those goals Berger had set up sessions when the group left their living area and were trained in what they could expect, the duties that were required of them once VALKYRIE was ready.

Which lead to today, everyone had been woken up, had clothes thrown at them and herded to a new room with a large tank in the middle with metallic blast shielding around it. Inside, the reason for all this hardship was waking up and it was confused, hurting and alone. For this next stage, only the candidates and the scientists needed to release it from its watery imprisonment were allowed and the first moments of the experiments release were crucial.

The blast shielding pealed away and folded into the ceiling silently while Lawrence gagged and covered his mouth. Dangling in the tank by her shoulders thanks to steel hooks and wires was a naked girl, maybe in her late teens with longish hair that was of all colors violet or maybe a pinkish purple. The girl couldn't have been more than four and a half feet tall with modest proportions, Amos wanted to cut her lose from those cruel looking hooks and throw a towel over her. This was like watching one of those gory horror movies where the monster you made to fight another monster turns on its master.

He wasn't far from the mark, the girl snapped her eyes open and started screaming and kicking on the ends of the lines before the thick acrylic of the tank shattered like antique glass and the wires snapped letting the bewildered fury drop to the floor. Sensations were driving her mad and they could all feel the pain from nearly everything, it was driving the girl to the end of her endurance because she had been without any input for so long that even the smallest thing was too much to handle.

In less than a second, crap hit the fans as the scientists closest the woman were lifted off the ground by an unseen force and taken apart. Well, not really taken apart in the classic sense, it was like watching mist dissipate but human bodies weren't suppose to do that. All that was left of her victims was a pink slime that dropped out of the air and it coated everything it landed on, it was unreal. Silence filled in where the victims' voices had filled the air seconds before when they realized a monster was loose.

The last of the white coated lab techs threw himself at the group that was suppose to calm the experiment down and the unnatural blue eyes with cat like pupils finally took in the other people in the room. Lawrence blanched and tried to make himself as small as possible behind Bradley, a quiet man from Las Vegas that looked like he'd be more comfortable behind a desk than facing something that had just killed four men less than a minute after it woke up. Even worse, they were locked in until the girl was under control or she killed them, whichever happened to come first.

Someone, it sounded like Kamaii, had the presence of mind to remind everyone of their training for this situation and routine kicked in, they had to try to calm the temporary telepath by thinking soothing things and try to convince her they are friends while avoiding being killed. When the enraged woman attacked like a Fury Hendricks and he had caught her in the soft bathrobe that was supposed to be offered her once she was tamed while the rest were literally thinking calm and happy thoughts. VALKYRIE stopped trying to kill everyone in sight but not without causing injuries to everyone while she fought a losing battle with the robe. She stopped moving and mewled unhappily with one leg in an arm of the battered robe, the other arm wrapped around her neck like a feather boa.

Which lead to what was happening now, after hours of working to keep the girl calm (she could talk but it sounded like croaking) and coaxing her to their quarters they could finally relax. Once she had finally made it there, she collapsed on the nearest bed and hadn't moved since which left the beds owner with no place to sleep and no inclination to rouse her. No one wanted to be reduced to a pasty slime on the floor and furniture, so by silent consent they agreed to let the girl sleep as long as she wanted.

Which left Amos without a bed; blankets were brought in from the storage room and had stretched out near the door to the rest of the basement at his request. They had all knew without having to ask that it was going to be a pain in the ass to somehow tame, train, and teach a teenage girl how to use powers that had never existed before. To make matters worse some of the people the girl had killed were high-ranking scientists here that were going to have to be replaced so Berger was in a hell of a mood, more so than usual at any rate.

One of the first things they had to do was get the girl to clean herself up and get her some clothes, she was wearing Lawrence's coat and it hung on her slim frame like a tent since her struggles with the robe left it shredded. Once they got her clean they could see about removing the hooks, the things had been embedded so long that skin had actually grown around them. Amos would have to use the suicide blade he had to cut them loose unless they got their hands on something sharper than a butter knife. He yawned and twisted to ease some discomfort from sleeping on the floor instead of a soft bed, the next few weeks promised to be hectic.

~DISCONTINUITY~

Amos was walking down a darkened hallway with no lights and windows on one side let surreal moonlight inside with slanting beams that turned the floor and walls silvery white. Outside the windows was a barren desert landscape dotted with the occasional cactus. Short tufts of odd grass were scattered randomly and he could have sworn he saw dark skinned lizards scurrying from cover to cover on whatever errands they did. One of the scaly beasts turned to him and opened its mouth in a silent hiss before running into a burrow.

Opposite the windows was a series of doors all labeled with a strange angular looking script that was foreign to him, stranger still was that the whole situation seemed vaguely familiar though he couldn't recall ever being here.

"Hello?"

Silence answered him and from the hall behind him a strange wind blew that pushed him forward without a sound, the more he resisted the more pressure was put on him until he was thrown down the hall head over heels in front of a blazingly bright red door. Smoke leaked from the spaces between the frame and the door itself and everything about it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Before his eyes, it opened and smoke billowed out so thickly he could taste burnt flesh and plastic on his tongue and from somewhere in that billowing darkness a pair of glowing eyes stared back at him.

Before he could back away from the nightmarish door, something that looked a hell of a lot like tentacles shot out, wrapped around his chest and arms, and hauled him into the suffocating room. Amos scrunched his eyes closed and fought to get free of whatever had him when he heard a hissing laugh right next to his ear, something about it turned his blood to ice while his captor threw a scaly coil under his chin and tightened it until the trapped agent could feel his heartbeat against the things cold skin.

"Oh you are a fun catch, much bigger than the others. Perhaps I won't eat you right away, or at least not all at once."

The creature squeezed him tightly and the agent had a distinct feeling of being closer to its body. The smoke in the room was starting to make his eyes and throat burn so much that he couldn't see or talk through the blooming pain, that and the thing was squeezing him so hard it was getting difficult to breathe.

Giving up wasn't an option though, he took as deep a breath as he could with the tightening coils and kicked at where the things main body should be since it had pinned his arms to his back around the same time it had wrapped around his throat. He fought through the burning in his lungs until lack of air and the looming curtain of unconsciousness forced him to hang limply or risk passing out. It was like trying to fight a shadow, he could not touch it but it sure as hell was touching him.

It seemed to go on forever like that; the monster choked him almost to blacking out and eased up so he could recover before it provoked another struggle. Each time it let him recover, he felt weakened and more exhausted than he should have been, if he could just see what was going on or where the monster was he might stand a chance. Adding insult to injury when he did black out, he came to with it cradling him like a baby and cooing at him before the cycle started again. This time he couldn't bring himself to thrash or writhe as it strangled him, all he was able to do was whimper, gasp for air and hope it would end soon.

"Done already? I'm disappointed; you should have been a lot more fun than this. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted," The killing coil around his neck eased up and Amos was able to suck in a smoky lungful of air that almost tasted clean after his fruitless struggles. It didn't pull away entirely but the slack in the coil was a welcome reprieve from being practically smothered in its arms.

"Say g'night…" A fanged mouth opened in front of his face and Amos twitched feebly as it snapped closed at his shoulders, he was going to be eaten alive and he couldn't find the strength to try to fight again. He shuddered as the shadowed creature rubbed his face with its tongue and took a quick breath, gathered the last of his strength and prepared to fight his way free one last time or die trying.

Brilliantly white light pierced the gloom and Amos hit the ground hard as a heavy book smacked his fanged assailant in the back of the head and flopped to the floor like a brick. The light seemed to come from the BOOK actually and in the sudden glairing light the smoke dissipated and he could see for the first time what had him.

His first thought was that a crocodile had learned how to walk upright and wear pants but all the joints were wrong and the snout was more human than reptilian. It was impossible to get any real details about the creature, shadows clung to its body despite the light and they writhed like tentacles from some ocean creature. His savior was clothed in the same light as the book and the agent saw even less of that person because they were so blindingly bright, all he could see is that it was a man and he was holding another big book but that one didn't seem to have a glow of its own.

"Gaze upon my 8C and get outta that Counterparts head!"

He would have liked to see more but something reached into the room from the hallway and yanked him clear of the formerly smoke filled room with enough force to make him see stars when his head smacked into a window. Before he could clear his vision, his body jerked as something stabbed through his chest with a starburst of pain, Amos blinked through the stars and pain to see a monstrously large scorpion's stinger was buried to its base in his chest. The stinger lead to an armored tail and then to the being that had hauled him out of the nightmare room. A monster that outweighed him by four hundred pounds with a lion's body and eagles wings all made of rippling black fire like the Auditor.

"Don't disappoint me or I assure you, your remaining life will be spent regretting it." The tail was yanked free and Amos screamed for the first time since that shadow creature had caught him. Fire spread from the injection site as venom spread through his body; it felt like fire ants were under his skin and through the pain something nagged at him. There was no mistaking it that was his boss the black flames and that voice was unique to the Auditor, what kind of nightmare was this!

Amos was jerked awake by a sharp pain in his back and bucked to off whatever had him, instead he slammed the door closed before scrambling to his feet. A half remembered dream about a smoking door and monsters clung to him like cobwebs and yanked the door open to see Berger holding his bloody nose.

"Nngh. That had better have been an accident or I shall be very aggravated Mr. Smith." The doctor's speech was muffled form him trying to stop the flow of blood and motioned for the leet to step outside the candidate room. "Come we must talk. The Auditor knows the girl is awake and has decided to visit in a month. You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you? Since you are awake and know him best…"

Everything about this felt like it was from some nightmare, it was impossible to tell given how real that dream had felt, well there was one way, but trying to pull it off in front of this man wasn't something he was willing to do.

For the next hour and a half, Amos was grilled by the geneticist about what he knew about the demons looming visit. He was also lectured on what he would and would not be allowed since he had survived VALKYRIE's attack. Somewhere along the lines of the lecture Amos got a feeling that the doctor was trying to make the big man quit the project before it really got going. For better or worse, the leet felt safer with his current position than with leaving the project. Especially when the good doctor eying him like a lab rat, if he got out of here without being a part of any other experiments it was going to be a miracle.

Berger watched Amos trudge back to the candidates' room and scowled, VALKYRIE was supposed to be put in her room first thing so she could be examined in the morning, once she was sedated of course. He was going to administer one to the girl when he'd found Smith stretched out by the door and he had to change his plans quickly since the agent woke up ready for a fight. Things were much easier with people he could cow than with trained fighters, he'd have to watch his step once VALKYRIE entered her advanced training phases.

Now that things were moving, it was going to become very interesting, he'd checked the figures for the current experiment and it was projected that half the candidates would drop out; some could be used for other things while the rest had a chance of being irreparably broken, the broken ones could be used as fodder for other tests. On the other hand, retraining for simple tasks around the facility would be much easier; you didn't need to have all your marbles if you were going to be a grunt around here.

Those that made it to the final stages of the experiment would have to be handled carefully so they could safely bring the numbers down to one handler for the girl and three seconds in case the primary was killed, and two axillaries in the off chance that all firsts and seconds were lost. Of course, the others would be kept alive and on hand in case something unthinkable happened, but as long as she identified with those he could have them participate in other things in the facility. There were more than enough things you could do to someone and not shatter them.

He couldn't wait for Smith to drop out and with confirmation that the unusually large man was genetically clean it was simply too convenient to have such a need for good guinea pigs and to have an embarrassment of riches on hand for the Auditors' project. Let the demon have his 'nephilim', a monster of lore said to be derived from a union of angels and men, with the power of a god and all that entailed, in the form of one small girl. He, Franklin Berger, was going to remake humanity in any way he saw fit to ensure survival of the species no matter what happened and he wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way!


	13. sub arc: Project VALKYRIE part 5

Chapter 8.5 – Valkyrie enraged.

Amos rubbed sweaty palms on his trousers and looked at his companions, None of them knew what they were going to be confronted with and he hoped for their sakes that they didn't insult the black skinned man they were about to meet. Auditor wasn't exactly easy to irritate but he was quick to make sure you didn't get away with insulting him.

"So. The Auditor, eh? You know I've never gotten to see him at all." Lawrence looked as nervous as Amos felt. The leet looked at the young man tried to ease the tension with a halfhearted smile.

"He's not the bad sort but watch your step, kid. He never travels alone."

On cue, the demon sauntered down the hall with two ATP on either side each with an AK-47 in hand a P-90 strapped to their backs and surely other concealed weapons like pistols or knives. Smith bowed his head to his boss instinctively and saw those red eyes glitter with something close to joy as he approached the group of candidates.

"A good day to you all, I have been kept up to date on your progress, to a point, so I look forward to this demonstration of your prowess with VALKYRIE. Know that I have no real decision over your fates but should I like what I see you will be considerably better off when she's fully trained."

Amos felt something odd and steeled his will against it. He had an unexplainable desire to do just that and make sure that he won this beings favor, never mind that he'd fought for and won promotion after promotion to get where he was.

Auditors smile turned predatory as though he was a wolf looking at a lamed lamb and followed Weiss down the hall to the viewing room. His guards followed with leonine grace and Smith shuddered internally. Those yellow bloods represented one of the fates he had to look forward to if he was shuttled further up the militant ladder.

Less than a second later Berger bustled down the hall in his best pants and loosely fitted sweaters under a white coat and clapped a clipboard against his thigh to get everyone's attention.

"Whatever you may think about that man I don't want you getting complacent, the project depends on success and any who fail to impress Auditor or myself will find themselves on a one way trip to the labs is that clear?" The geneticist frowned sternly at the group until he was satisfied his message had sunk in before waving them along. "Then go and show how much progress has been made with her."

The demon ignored his guide as the brute left the room and sat comfortably a chair near the slanted window. It was set near the ceiling of the testing room and he could see all parts of the room except what was directly below him, which didn't matter. Multiple targets had been set around the room and the center was marked with white tape where Project VALKYRIE was going to be for her trials.

He leaned forward as the doors opened and the girl with purple hair stepped into the testing area followed by tall man with European features. The human was unremarkable and the roster he'd been handed told him this was Jacob Bosely, the project director marked him as a potential second meaning he had a good handle on the girl but she wasn't as responsive as she was to others. Auditor looked the list over quickly to memorize the order and turned his attention back to the little room.

At Bosley's command, the girl started taking out the targets and Dementia frowned to focus on the energies moving in that little test room. Preceding every visible reaction was an immaterial cloud that washed over the mannequins before they were broken or thrown. It wasn't the same kind of energies or focus he had hoped for but it was a step in the right direction.

He watched as three more men carried out their demonstrations before Smith walked into the room and the energy in it changed from low-level calm to excited wavering. The agent had clay discs in his arms identical to those used in skeet shooting and smiled at the girl while the room was reset with fewer stationary targets than the others were.

For the short time, Smith was in the room he spoke only shortly and VALKYRIE's focus changed from nebulous clouds to focused pinpoints of energy that preceded the blows like tracer bullets. How had she come to use her talents in a recognizable way, the easiest explanation was that Smith had been talking and the girl had simply applied them kinetically.

Even a few of the stationary targets fired clay discs at the target area and the demon was pleasantly surprised to see the girl reaction to the short commands from his agent to deal with the incoming projectiles and to take out the 'shooters'. Trust a man who had been trained to fight to come up with a display that proves her training hadn't been neglected out of ignorance.

He looked down at the roster, saw a note that suggested Smith be a third, and scratched it out with a pen, the third tier was for the least qualified and the girl's attention marked him as too good a talent for such a wasteful designation. Idly he let his attention wander as he dropped the pen into the storage space he called the void.

Auditor felt her focus turning from the assigned target in the room and turn to the viewing room. Nephalim, natural nephalim at least, seemed to hate pureblooded creatures that fit perfectly into their worlds. Could this girl possably….

The demon ducked and rolled across the floor just before a target dummy smashed through the glass, if he'd stayed where he was there was a good chance he would have been knocked senseless for a moment. As it was one of his ATP had taken a blow to the temple and was sprawled on the floor with blood pouring from the wound.

Amos stared in horror and disbelief as VAL shot from the designated area to the window she'd shattered and into the room while alarms blared. Dear god what had gotten into her head? Without a second thought, Amos darted form the room and sprinted down the halls to stop the girl form doing his boss any harm.

The demon looked up in time to see his manmade valkyrie perched on the chair he'd been sitting in and growling at his still conscious ATP. While he watched, the air rippled toward the altered man like a storm that tore him apart in seconds. By the martyrs veil she really WAS capable of killing a man in seconds and that method would likely kill supernatural beings just as easily.

"Sir It's not safe here!" The demon had only a moment to spare for that statement before Amos wrapped an arm around the demons middle and hurtled own a hallway before the nephalim could react.

A howl of rage followed them and the demon was hauled through the mazelike hallways so quickly he was hard put to keep his mental map straight. Smith rammed a door open and set his boss down on in time to lock the door.

"SMITH. Will you kindly explain what you think you're doing and why that creature escaped under your watch?" The air simmered with his rage and the demon was very close to scorching the walls closest to him while his man started pawing through drawers and cabinets.

"There is a small problem that is caused by her conditioning, little fits and starts that is usually handled by drugging her. She's still learning what she's capable of and she isn't gaining confidence and proficiency at the rate they want so she's pushed," Smith pawed through shelves and drawers filled with syringes and non-lethal guns.

"Push her too hard and she stops listening and tears things apart like this. She didn't seem stressed when I saw her before this whole thing so I don't know what set her off. Ah!" The leet took a small gun out and checked it for ammo; it looked like a bb gun that kids play with, if you ignored the fact that it used darts instead of small lead balls.

"Here's what they use on her," Amos picked through the drawer, found two more tranqualizer darts identical to the one already in the gun, and pocketed them.

The black skinned being frowned at what his agent had said and followed Amos as he eased the door open and held the little gun ready. The lights were flickering and half-broken and they hadn't been a moment ago, VALKYRIE must be close. Auditor saw her first and yanked Smith around to see the little woman; her eyes were split with cat like pupils. Just like a member of the Sidhe except she lacked their ethereal beauty.

"Valarie you shouldn't attack people you haven't met!"

Auditor raised an eyebrow and made a note to ask how the girl had come to be called Valarie; she was not supposed to be given a name until she was firmly controlled and ready to be tested in a real fight. The leet held the gun steady on the girl and hardly flinched as she rushed them. The dart whistled through the air and altered its trajectory upward before it got close to the girl.

"My turn…"

Smith braced himself for some kind of impact and was flung backwards sharply enough to drop the gun before he simply vanished. She was not supposed to be able to kill any of the people she'd been working with closely but that wasn't small comfort in the face of danger.

Auditor stared down the hall at the small human woman and felt his heart skip a beat before glaring at his creation. That leet agent had the extra ammo and it was anyone's guess where he went after the kinetic threw him away. The girl snarled and a section of the ceiling ripped apart to expose a supporting steel beam. Dust and debris filled the air making it hard to see the experiment. This wasn't going to be pleasant to experience.

He muttered a nearly silent word and opened his hand to catch the tranquilizer gun as it leaped into the air on a burst of fire. Darts or not he was going to put this girl in her place, as long as she could heal, it didn't matter if he broke bones but the setback would be regrettable.

"Don't think you can walk away after attacking me, girl. You'll be lucky to have fewer than six broken bones when I'm done with you."

His vision was blocked and the demon was slammed backwards, not by cold hard steel, but by the leet that had caught the beam midair accompanied with the crack of breaking glass. Smith grunted as he dropped the section of steel to the ground and dropped to hands and knees to wrap an arm around his ribs.

VALKYRIE wavered on her feet and the air felt considerably less heavy, a part of her programming was not to hurt her handlers and Smith had put himself in the way of her target. Right now, she was suffering pre-programmed anguish for the injuries she caused with the steel beam and it was in the demons best interest to capitalize on this lull in the battle before she recovered.

Auditor dove at Smith and dug into the pocket with the spare darts. One had been broken, the drug cocktail was soaking through the fabric and into a few cuts, and the other, by some miracle, was intact and undamaged. He ripped it free and loaded the gun for a second shot, the girl was recovering from her distress and was charging to make sure there wasn't another mistake, He would have to time his shot to make damn sure he got her this time.

This time she didn't tear things apart as she passed but the weight in the air was thick enough to taste, he could just feel her gathering energy for a more precise strike, but it wasn't well controlled. It shook and wavered while she stalked her prey; it was like watching a young cheetah hunting under its mother's care, unsure of what to do but trying to do it all the same. If she had chosen more wisely, however her hunt would be an assured success.

The demon used Amos to break the nephalims line of sight and grabbed the beam to block off most of the hallway. One end had ground into the wall when she tried to avoid hitting Amos so deeply that its easer to jam the free end into the floor. Dust and debris filled the air making it a trifle difficult to see anything more then seven feet away. She'd have to yank the beam free or sneak past it, close enough for him to shoot her regardless of her movements.

He took a meditative breath and felt time slow around him, it was an illusion of course, and the true reason was he was moving faster than he normally did around vanillas, his full potential would put them off and control would be lost of his mortal minions if they feared him more than they respected him.

He felt movement at the opposite end of the hall and let time dilate further as he stood up and pointed the tranquilizer gun at the creature he had engineered. She tracked his sudden movement with a slight delay and retreated, she too could move quickly but it wasn't going to save her from a heavy dose. The dart shot through the air and sunk deeply into its target while it tried desperately to get behind the beam it had thrown and safely down the hall.

She had the abilities he'd hoped to grant her, had the whit to use them competently, and could adjust to her situation well enough but was unable or unwilling to heed others. It would be regrettable if the valkyrie couldn't be managed properly.

"Are you all right sir?"

The demon sailed out of his thoughts by the pained wheezing of the leet that had done his best to preserve the demons life. Pain lined the humans face and he would be lucky to have gotten only broken ribs.

"Perfectly fine."

"I'm glad to hear that…" the agents eyes had been swimming with pain but now they were glazing over with drug induced lethargy. Auditor watched as Amos slumped over with a detached gaze and stepped away from the agent. The human had performed admirably even if it wasn't entirely necessary. Some time in the void would have cooled her temper assuming she couldn't find her own way out of it.

Thundering footsteps echoed down the halls as the facilities security swarmed to the last known location of its lost experiment with LTL weaponry and barely adequate body armor. Well behind the front lines, a fat geneticist huffed and puffed to a ponderous stop, it was amazing he could move so quickly without keeling over immediately.

"Well Berger seems you have some work to do with the girl, I can't have a weapon that won't do as it's commanded." Auditor walked past the small crowd that had come to collect their missing experiment and stopped a few steps past the geneticist. Now was the time to give him something to worry about if he did indeed have something to hide. "I expect a full report, Smith tells me this isn't the first time she's cut loose."

The demon looked the pathetic human in the eyes and let his anger at being attacked manifest like firs dancing on his body. The air was heating up and his anger was so thick even mortals could feel it. The fallen angel kept his eyes locked until Berger looked away before he spoke again.

"That girl should have killed my agent with that beam. Seemed she simply didn't want to end him as she did with me. I do hope this is an oversight and not a part of the program you set for her. I'd hate to terminate the project and all associated with it."

The scientist sputtered uselessly while the demon walked away, he'd have to pick up his surviving guard before he left assuming he wasn't dead from blood loss. As his lord still lived, Berger was going to suffer a hellish death at the Auditors hands if his loyalty was not firmly in the demons favor.


	14. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Storm front

Somewhere in Southern California, 11:38 PM

Dinner alone was bittersweet, with Auditor roaming the town at a company dinner and VAL working nights as a bartender four nights a week, Amos had the house all alone with the dog for the first time in a long while. He shared some leftover chicken pasta with the terrier and drank domestic beer in companionable silence with the pet until Deeoh started to get anxious with his owner gone. The little dog shook like a leaf and tried to burrow behind furniture and dive into any small space. The last straw was seeing the poor thing try to crawl behind Val's headboard; the dog hadn't fit back there since he was less than a year old.

A nice, hour-long stroll eased Deeohgee's anxiety and replaced it with interest in all the smells and people they met. There were cats to chase, patches of tall grass to hike on, yards to roll in, and all the scratches he could get from the neighbors who were also enjoying a walk in the cool evening air. When they got back, Deimos got a cursory glance from the furred lap warmer and allowed to pass without a stiff barking to show who owned the territory.

Amos turned the stove light on in the kitchen and frowned his watch, it was getting close to midnight and while Auditor didn't have a curfew, it was unusual for the demon to be out so long. He was careful not to push at the restrictions placed upon him by the Agency so he could live outside their facilities. Fear of being treated as he had once treated others, specifically how the demon had treated Leri and Valarie, kept him mindful of his actions and he got almost sulky when the threat loomed close.

His old boss never mentioned how he had been kept for so long in the care of what he called 'vanilla' or normal people or even how he'd been caught in the first place. Despite being run down and aggressively forced to live like a human, he kept his pride and simply wouldn't talk about certain things. It was almost as if being asked how, why or what about anything remotely personal was taboo. All you would get for you efforts was a wooly answer that never really satisfied.

The big man covered a yawn and shuffled to the living room with the dog hot on his heels, the storm was loud enough to make sleeping in his own bed a trial of patience and exhaustion, besides the couch was a whole lot more comfortable than his mattress. Rain pattered quietly through the outer walls and a distant rumble of thunder quietly set the mood for the rest of the night.

The couch groaned slightly under his weight and Smith pulled a light blanket off the back and waited for the terrier to settle against his stomach before draping the whimsical blanket over him. It was one of the many things that made this old house feel like home and well lived in, but this item was definitely meant for a girl. Valarie liked white horses running through fields and winged people, not necessarily angels, and cloudscapes.

Deeoh spun in a few circles before settling again with a contented sigh and nudged the human for a good scratch between the ears. The pair listened to the rain drumming on the roof and the distant rumble of thunder and slowly drifted to sleep where their dreams waited to greet them.

~-side arc 1-~

Amos woke with a start and slammed his fist against the wall behind the couch, that dream had seemed so real, the pain, the fear, the coppery smell of blood. He really believed he was back in that Madness. If only he were as lucky as VAL was and able to forget those nightmarish scenes of violence and death. He panted and willed his heartbeat to slow to its normal speed, a quick glance at his watch made the leet groan, he'd only been asleep for an hour.

He had had nightmares for years, flashbacks that felt so real he swore he was back in the A.A.H.W. fighting for his life against the Agency while struggling with his morals. Sometimes he dreamed about routine things like drinking with long dead friends, sometimes he dreamed of being a boy back home with his family during summer vacation, other times it was nightmarish scenes of battle.

The worst were what happened after VAL had attacked the Auditor because he couldn't be sure if that really happened or not, mostly because he couldn't remember anything for nearly a year after he was recalled to his former post. All he had were flashes of blurry images, smells, and emotions that terrified him because they were nothing like what he could remember from his personal experience. It closely resembled how Berger treated his experiments and Valarie knew what that was like but chose not to delve into those memories.

He knew at least part of the story; VAL had been kept in a small room with a bed, a sink and a toilet with hardly any room to move around in and no windows to ease the stress of the sterile cell. She had no storage spaces of her own; no clothing that insulated her from the cold and nothing to occupy her time. Everything she had was on-loan by the despicable souls that kept the girl caged.

To that end she worked hard not to lose anything but no matter what they never gave her two things she really wanted; to see the sun or shoes so she wouldn't have to wander barefoot when moved to the testing rooms. They fed her maybe twice a day and bathed her once every few days yet she suffered through the deprivations that would have pushed anyone beyond their breaking point, it was amazing she was so well adjusted.

In his broken dreams, he was in her old situation, kept in a room that was too small, gassed when he refused to cooperate and given daily injections that made him feel sick. The worst part is sometimes he just gave up and let those faceless tormentors manhandle him to avoid yet harsher treatment.

Amos ground his teeth together and took a bottle of pills from the end table drawer to stop a panic attack before it got enough power to stop him in his tracks. Just thinking about those twisted dreams he couldn't clearly remember put him in a downward spiral and brought on panic attacks every time. Just one of the many side effects of PTSD and one he would love to get rid of.

The big man stared at the ceiling and sighed, he should have taken the pills with water but he could not bring himself to shuffle to the kitchen and get some. If he could have one wish, it would be to sleep well for the rest of his life and to have avoided the violent career he had chosen to support his family. Heaviness settled over him and Amos was nearly asleep when his cell phone came to life and startled him awake to Deeoh's displeasure. The little screen was overly bright and Amos squinted to see who was calling him before he picked up.

"Yes?" Yes instead of hello, if this was a computerized call it would not be able to execute its' recorded messages because they were programmed to start their spiel when you said Hello or Hi.

"Hello, this is Dr. Albert Hildebrandt; I'm calling for a Mr. Amos Smith."

"Smith speaking." Smith propped himself up on an elbow and fought to get his body in gear, the heaviness he'd welcomed so he could sleep was not letting him wake up easily.

"Ah. Do you know a man named Giordano? Salvatore Giordano."

"Yes, we live together."

"Mister Smith, there has been an accident."

"What accident? What's going on are you sure you've got the right number?" Amos felt heat rising under his skin along with a wave of relief. At first, he'd thought he was going to hear some bad news about his family and hearing the Audit's alias eased those fears.

"I can't give any details over the phone but if you'll please come to the emergency care center on University Street I will be glad to give you more information on the situation."

"Alright, I'll be there in a bit." Smith hung up and stared at the phone and dragged himself to the bedroom to be presentable enough to get downtown.

-Five minutes earlier-

Auditor sighed, he was aware of the injuries he'd received and knew he would survive them; it was the hairless monkeys around him that were making a fuss about everything. Two of the bullets had stopped at the shoulder blade and the other ripped through the meaty part of the same shoulder and a hair above the collarbone. The more troubling injury came from the balisong, the wound was very deep and pointed upward between the ribs, a professional insertion would have pierced a lung but that trained little man wouldn't be so lucky against a supernatural being.

The spells he'd weaved to let his Skin ooze bright red blood identical to the man he'd possessed was being put through its paces. Normally he would prefer to leave no blood behind for a great many reasons but a lack of blood here would be even more suspicious than dark blood. The demon grunted and let a pair of good Samaritans ease him to the ground against a car until an ambulance arrived

An off duty firefighter stepped forward to help and eased the demon in human skin to the ground before checking the extent of the injuries. The firefighter asked the demon to move feet and hands and checked his pulse before pealing clothing off. Sal checked off the steps for treating shock in a person, which included but weren't limited to, removing clothing, checking vitals, reducing blood loss and many other things to keep a person alive.

"Hey don't move around much, there might be internal injuries."

Ah yes internal injuries, Humans had gotten so good at creating weapons small enough to carry in a pocket with metal slugs that could tear, concuss and break apart in a body. By all indications, the bullets that had stopped at the bone had fragmented and the bullet with an exit wound had clipped bone as it passed so fragmentation was likely and concussion damage inevitable. The stab wound however presented an immediate problem with its proximity to vital organs.

"There's something in my wallet I need, I have to let them know what's happened."

"Let who know?" The man was now applying pressure to the wounds with help of a bystander.

"The Agency, the one from Nevada." Most people knew the one; it had popped up to fight the Madness, to fight him. After the end of the wars it became an organization that cataloged oddities for the police, now it had progressed to actively police everyone would come out of the wars with special abilities and with it came negative impressions to those affected.

"You're from Nevada?" The firefighters gold flecked brown eyes didn't betray mistrust or fear, only a deep calm and understanding, It was the kind of look that made you want to trust whatever the person said.

"No, I was there when things started happening. Please I have to let them know what happened before the police start making calls."

The man nodded and Auditor heard sirens in the distance, he couldn't tell if it was paramedics or police but he was positive it was not the fire department, their sirens had more body to them. Sylvia called the number on the Index card and Auditor let his mind wander, perhaps it was best to allow her to make the call, she experienced the attack and the rubes on the other end of the line would be more inclined to listen to her than to the demon they so despised.

Moreover, he had a part to play of poor gunshot victim going through shock rather than a lucid demon who is more than capable of shrugging the injuries off like a comfortable pair of pants. He was going to have a difficult enough time in the ambulance to let himself be handled and again when the surgeons started figuring out how they would go about 'saving' him.

Flashing blue and red lights tore through the night and the demon groaned, paramedics first followed by police, this night was getting SO much better with every passing second. He detached himself to see the surroundings and sensations and left Sal in control of their body. It felt like floating weightless and his field of vision was greater than it had ever been, didn't need to turn his head to get a clear look at his peripherals.

Police checked the area for threats and started roping the area off to begin their investigation and to let the EMT's do their jobs. The paramedics were talking to the firefighter, the bystander and Sylvia; the police were doing the same as they were trained to do. Pictures were taken and the Auditor hovered over the shoulders of the police as they wrote out their report on the situation. He watched the fire engine roll up and sighed, all the players were in place so there was no more time to figure out a way to avoid the hospital without a fuss, if only the street had been truly bereft of life so he could reject the injuries and get on with his miserable life.

The demon watched in contempt as the paramedics cut his clothes off and stared at the blinking collar. Just like having an identification card from the agency was a label so was the collar, except you could hide a plastic card from sight, the collar was in plain sight and screamed it's purpose, suppressing Drive created abilities.

The paramedics called the agency to see what they were dealing with and Auditor smiled faintly, astral projection was a chore but in cases like this, it was worth the effort. They checked him for burns, saw ash on his clothes and smelt his breath, they were checking if his body would breath fire, it could but Sal didn't know how to pull it off yet.

He hovered over the scene and watched the blood soaked cloth being removed so a clotting factor could be introduced to the wounds before pressure bandages were applied. Watched the ambulance close its doors with his body inside it and followed it like a ghost, and counted himself lucky to avoid the smells and sensations of that moving cage.

He popped into the ambulance long enough to see a paramedic patting Salvatore's arm and talking to him comfortingly. Say whatever you would about humanity being dark, disgusting and treacherous, this was mostly true. It was these small moments where they shone with the old light the creator had given them. They all had the ability to grant the most minor of miracles but they chose to think of it as something else entirely and to rationalize it.

The old leet yawned as he killed the engine and trotted to the emergency care center, like all hospitals it tried to look nice for the poor souls that had to come here. Manicured landscapes filled with brightly colored plants that didn't require much water and stained concrete walkways meant to resemble natural stone tried to reassure you that this was a nice place. The little reception area was sprinkled with bright abstract paintings and steel sculptures designed to break any preconceptions you had about a hospital but those white walls couldn't hide their purpose. Sterile, clean and orderly without a stain on them, like the doctors' coats and their rubber gloves the walls were impersonal and didn't give a flying rats' behind about you unless you were willing to pay for what you got.

He walked up to the plump woman on a modest work outfit with floral print cardigan sitting behind the desk and took in all the details her dress and body language could offer. She was not a young woman anymore but she clung to those years with thickly applied makeup to hide the wrinkles and bright nail polish fit for a woman in her twenties.

Judging from how she did her eye shadow, she was at least in her mid to late forties but had learned how to use color to make her hazel eyes stand out. She kept her curly red hair cut to a reasonably short length and was colorful if you looked closely enough, not a pure red but a mix of gold, caramel, red, orange and brown with a few streaks of silver here and there. All and all, a handsome woman who was self assured and completely comfortable with her appearance and vanities.

She looked at him as he approached and he noticed she wore a wedding band meant for a man rather than a woman. He didn't want to read much into that but first impression was it was her husbands' band and with it came an untold story.

"Hello, I got a call from Dr. Hildebrandt that a friend of mine was in an accident." He had identification ready to speed the process along; if there had been a major accident then Auditor would likely be suffering through surgery. Dorothy, that was the receptionist's name, directed him to a waiting room and he made his way there in a hazy stupor, none of this felt real at all. He fell into one of the beat up chairs to get a quick nap before he dealt with the reality of visiting someone in the hospital.

Auditor hovered over the scene in the sterile room and watched the anesthesiologist track the vital signs as the gas took effect, it wouldn't go as quickly as it normally did with regular people but the demon knew it would be brushed aside as a quirk of being from Nevada, a lot was swept under that rug and ignored thoroughly. Idly, he thought about an old friend of his who was enamored with human healing practices and fondly wished he was sharing this time on the astral plain with Pride who was the closest person he had to a brother.

The surgeons made quick work of removing the two bullets and fragments but they spent most of their time picking out fragments of bone to small to put back in place and putting the larger bits back together so they could fuse. The specialist watching his vitals called for a halt in the operation so Sal could empty his stomach onto the floor and the demon felt a small pull. If things had not been critical, they would have waited the digestive system out to avoid having a patient vomit under the knife. That tug, Salvatore was not really enjoying the experience his possessor was going to great lengths to avoid.

Auditor knew before he had Fallen that human medicines would never really work for him, his steadfast refusal to acknowledge it as useful had sparked Pride in his research and captivation with human medicine. As time had passed for humanity, Pride had been able to prove that mankind's discoveries did in fact affect the Fallen and demon kind in general but with severely reduced effects. Right now that meant Salvatore was not asleep during the operation but unable to move or do anything about it since he'd been left behind in the body they now shared.

The lights in the room flickered briefly as the demon sighed and drifted closer to see how the surgeons were doing, no matter how much his captive wanted company there was no way in the seven hells he was going to go through the horror of being cut open. When the operation was over and they were in a less unnerving room, he would rejoin the flesh he was so familiar with.

"Mr. Smith? You can see your friend now."

Amos jerked awake and his heart skipped a beat, nothing felt or smelled familiar, the lighting was wrong, had he really woken up? He looked blearily at the young nurse who had spoken and felt heat rising as his thoughts finally caught up with the rest of him. This was the surgery waiting room and it was early morning, working after this was going to be hell.

"What? Sorry, I must have fallen asleep…" He covered a yawn and rubbed his eyes to clear them, the nurse looked like JD from Scrubs if you made some minor allowances for skin color and height.

"Mr. Giordano is in the recovery room so you can see him now. If you'll follow me." Without waiting for an answer, the little Indian man turned and walked briskly away while the big American hopped to his feet and followed. Somehow, this felt like it should be in a sitcom but not quite.

The room was small and looked identical to any other hospital room as Smith stepped in and looked around. There was only one person in the room and the constant beeping of the machines hooked to them made it impossible to ignore them.

A female nurse walked to the bed from a side room and tucked a heated blanket under Salvatore's chin in the time it took the leet to cross the room and look his former boss over. He looked a bit pale and he was shivering constantly. More blankets were set in place before Smith could find his voice.

"Hey." Amos knew what he was seeing wasn't what was real. Auditor could somehow fashion a camouflage layer that looked like a normal person and he could put that outer layer through the wringer without being hurt himself but looking at the person in the padded bed made him sympathetic. He looked pale and groggy, and cold which he probably didn't like.

"You look like you bit a bullet instead of me."

Amos stared at the Auditor and frowned, he looked the same, sounded the same but something was a tad off about the demon. Maybe it was just recovering from anesthesia or he was putting on a good act but something was not quite right.

"Don't look at me like that it's just a flesh wound." Definitely not the demon, he wouldn't quote Monty Python to save his life.

"I've caught a few bullets in my time; you look like six miles of highway in hell." Amos smiled gamely at his charge and watched his statement register; there was the otherworldly person he'd knows for years.

"I resent that remark as I've seen those roads in person..."


	15. Nevada Index Amos Smith

Nevada Indes

NAME: Amos Montgomery Smith  
>AGE: 53<br>GENDER: Male  
>HEIGHT: 5' 9"<br>WEIGHT: 158.37 lbs - 71.8354 kg  
>NATIONALITY: American<br>ANTI: Abraxis Siren (UNCONFIRMED)

STATUS: Employment with Gaurda, currently renting a house with Valarie Cyurie [link] and Salvatore Giordano [link], former leet agent, monitored by the Agency.

POWERS: Greatly reduced signs of aging, limited ESP, increased healing,

NOTES: Defected from A.A.H.W. prior to Tricky/s revival of Hank with sensative information about several projects that the Auditor was working on at the time. VALKYRIE, while highly empowered, heeds Amos' and has proven an excellent resource into how best to take down the demons' bases. There is spradic information at a base in southern Nevada hinting at his associatin with a Longevitiy Vaccine which may explain some of the anomolies concerning him.


	16. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Strange Happenings

Hank peeled away from the roadside and smirked, Jav hadn't thought twice about hopping out of the car while it was moving and succeeded on not eating dirt on the way out. Now the elder Rapton would go about his business while Hank played at being delivery boy, with luck his little side trip would turn up something he could sink his teeth into.

"I hope this works out. It's been really boring the past few years."

Hank looked at the passenger seat, spared his Anti half a glance, and grunted. There wasn't much anyone with their skill set could legitimately do in a time of peace. He could go freelance and sell his talents to the highest bidder for a time but that didn't appeal for an obscure reason. He could sign on with the Agency and be a part of their underground army, the thought of that left a bad taste in his mouth. The thought being associated with them, loosely or not, wasn't a death sentence but he would be on a short leash for god knows how long.

Homicide leaned the chair back and stretched his legs, "Something big is going to happen soon, and I can feel it in my bones."

\~-.-~/

Jav sighed as he watched the maniac roll away before taking off his glasses and cleaning them. as he looked around, he had one objective and he hoped nothing would stand in the way. He shoved his hands into his coat pockets, fingers wrapping around the switchblade slowly out of paranoia. There were things and people in this world that wanted his family dead and thankfully, the major players chose to act through others so he could at least defend himself.

"Let's see how the night'll end me." He couldn't help but glance over his shoulder to make sure he was alone before heading out into the desert. There were no other cars on the road in either direction except for Hanks' vehicle and a burnt out wreck on the other side that was still smoking with glass bottles littered around it. Overhead dark clouds hung low and partially blocked the stars and sliver of moon that decided to show itself.

Short desert scrubs dotted the landscape and in the thin moonlight the sand turned nearly white, unless one was sneaky or the clouds got thicker getting into top-secret facilities was going to be hard unless the guards were asleep on the job. He turned his back on the road and started walking, he knew where the building would be and getting in was probably the easiest part of what had to be done; he just had to get there first.

Half an hour of trudging through the desert finally rewarded Jav with the sight of his destination, a drab looking building big enough to house several large airplanes. His time with the Agency did make it easier to copy the identification they needed so he had a chance to get in. Even if the guards did yell at him to stop, just a single flash of the tag would make them shut up and step aside.

His fingers latched around the tag, as he got closer to the door with eyes half open though he was more wary than how he looked and acted. He only stared at the guard as he closed in, head lowering as if he had every right to be there.

The guard blinked and rubbed his eyes as Jav approached, they rarely got visitors here so to see anyone was enough to cause a slight stir. "Excuse me sir this is a restricted area, I have to ask you to leave." The uniformed guard put a hand on his holster to bring the intruders attention to the gun he wore.

The Rapton looked at the guard and flipped the plastic tag out, not looking too amused with the situation. "I have access here, sir. I just came here to check on a few things before going the way I came."

The grunt squinted at the tag and waved Jav through since everything looked legit, he was just there to keep prying eyes out of the base and to dissuade the average person. The real muscle was inside and if this person was trying to pull anything, it was not his problem. He wasn't paid enough to care who came through the gate but it would have been nice if he had been told they were expecting someone sooner than projected.

Jav couldn't contain a smirk as he walked through the door. He slipped the tag back into his pocket but tightened his grip on the knife, now comes the real test. If the guard blew any whistles then the elder Rapton would have to think fast to get his backside out of the fire.

A man walked out of the main building to intercept Jav with a hand rested casually on a pistol sticking out of its holder. He was dressed like a marine and bore a Sargent rank on his sleeve but that, like everything else inside the gates, was a ruse designed to fool people into ignoring the real reason behind the base. "Alright fella I'm going to have to see your clearance and ID before you get yourself in trouble."

Jav looked at the second man before slipping his ID out again along with a forged packet of Agency permissions. If this didn't go well he couldn't help but think of how the blade will look in this guy if he saw past the rouse. The 'Marine' looked the id over thoroughly before handing it back with a nod and keeping the duplicates of the forms. "What's your business here Mr. Rapton? We didn't get warning of your arrival."

"Sorry, I just heard about what had happened and had to come and see what was taken, check the tapes and get a copy of your report so we can catch the ones responsible." He eyed the Marine before making eye contact with him.

The man looked away first and handed the ID back to Jav, "We could use all the help we can get. Whatever happened screwed up the security systems and we've all been pulling overnighters getting things running smoothly again." He motioned for Jav to follow him inside and walked through the front doors and toward a set of elevators in the back of the building.

The walls inside were a nondescript gray with black floors that wouldn't show dirt or wear and were cheap to replace. Florescent lights lined the ceilings and cast irregular shadows in the corners of the room, it was a typical government owned building. He followed the man, not looking back once. "Anything that needs to be fixed and updated I will need to see that too, it seems you got into a big ass mess here." He growled, giving the guard a glare before looking at the elevators.

"If you ask me it's those damned Anti again, nothing but walking problems with the abilities some of them have." The guy thumbed the button to call the elevator and looked at Jav from under the brim of his hat.

Jav cringed at the mention of the Anti, from what he knew this was anything but those blue bloods he came to know. "You might be surprised..." He muttered as he stared ahead.

"Well what else could have broken in undetected, taken sensitive items and knocked everyone out?" The elevator doors opened and the marine walked in with a pointed glance at the elder Rapton.

"I would say something but I don't think you would agree. You've set your mind to blame someone you know so little of." He answered as he stepped in, standing beside the marine with a sigh.

"Well they haven't exactly done anyone any good with the war and all." He punched the button for one of the sub basements and the whole elevator rattled as it descended into the earth.

"You do know that an Anti actually ended the war, right?" He tried to keep the snarl that was trying to rise firmly away from his face. The only thing he needed to have happen was blow that he wasn't exactly human anymore.

"And started it." The young man shot Jav a seething glance and a muscle jumped in his cheek, those Anti had attacked him when they had invaded. If he hadn't thrown himself into a sewer, he might have been possessed by the vermin and forced to do its bidding.

"Actually, how do you know that?" He soon looked at the marine; it is all about the facts sometimes and this young man apparently was oblivious to them.

"We didn't invade their world they invaded ours and started trying to take control of everything!" The young man pointedly looked at Jav and tightened his grip on his keys to keep from getting out of control.

"Just for your information, there was one main Anti who caused all that shit." He soon started growling even more, anger rising up as he pulled out his hand and jabbed a nail into his suit. "More Anti tried to save your ass and here you are blaming what a demon did that a blue blood could not." His hood fell off as he sneered at the man. "I would know as I stood behind the lines watching the shit happen, unable to do anything as the last of my family got mauled and crushed by a mere Anti...before finishing everything. Next time, know your facts before blaming someone."

The young man pressed against the wall as far as he could get from Jav's rage without moving away from the door and leapt out as soon as the doors had opened. He had more important things to do than argue with some old coot about a war. 

"Whatever you say old man but that one you mentioned got the others going. I have to get back to patching up the generators; they got fried in the attack."

Jav sighed before backing up. "Sorry...it was actually a touchy subject, sir... Just wait and I'll help with those generators once I'm finished. It's the most I could do." He goes quiet as he looked at the doors again.

"Don't worry about it I'll be done before you finish looking at what's left of the security tapes and the reports from the whole mess. Brown line leads to security, you have a nice day." The 'marine' saluted and hurried down a different hallway and out of sight.

The Rapton sighed again as he watched the marine hurry off and turned around to make his way down the hall. He walked with his head down and arms crossed, listening for anything and to everything around him.

"Why do I have a feeling this attack will bring up something more than I would want?" He muttered before resting his hand on the door handle to the security room. At least he wasn't found out yet. He gave that thought a thankful nod as he tried the handle, the door was unlocked and the skilled intruder stepped in and shutting the door behind him. "Just how much footage do they have of this?"

The room was bare of decoration and clutter with one wall covered in screens with a low-slung control panel under them. Buttons lined the console and lights flickered as the screens changed their images periodically and the florescent light cast everything in a stark white light, whoever was supposed to be operating this station had stepped out. Beyond the control panel was another room lined with racks and racks of locked boxes where the tapes were stored.

He blinked a few times and shook his head before heading back out. No time to waste a few minutes trying to see what happened before the attack though his nose twitched every now and then with smells he wasn't familiar with. He had to find the main problem and look through that. It would give him more to work with and a better idea of what he was dealing with.

Jav stopped by the door the wreckage was in and looked around, testing to see if it was unlocked. All the Drives were kept in electronically locked doors normally accessible only to a select group. With the generators down and whatever damage was done during the attack the door swung open easily on its hinges.

"Well...this is just perfect..." He grumbled and rubbed his nose, something was bothering his senses, thus irritating him in the process. He knew he should make this quick as he walked over to ground zero which was surprisingly not destroyed so much as carefully raided.

Each drive was stacked and cataloged on its own pallet, which had been covered with plastic at one point. The damaged, working and unknown parts were labeled and somewhere in the facility was a list of everything that had been recovered after MAG Hank had pushed the Auditor to self-destruct. One pallet, the one that held the secret improbability drive, was noticeably missing many of its components and the others were torn open to suggest that parts were missing from them as well.

Jav looked at everything and cringed inwardly, he didn't dare touch anything as he knelt down. Something did nag at him though, he tried to ignore the feeling as he looked back to see if anyone had spotted him yet. How he wished for a file that mentioned everything that happened nearby. With a snort, the middle-aged man stood back up and decided it was time to bug someone and hope that they did not realize anything unusual with his arrival too soon.

He had enough time to step out of the room before he heard someone clearing their throat behind him and his body tingled as adrenaline flooded his system. He couldn't keep from cringing as his thoughts were interrupted by the noise. He turned around with a questioning gaze at the soldier, Jav couldn't speak though as he kept his gaze locked.

He was built like a marine with skin nearly as dark as the Auditors and wiry muscle concealed by a snug shirt. The guard, his stance said as much, looked at him with dark eyes and his expression was unreadable as he stood over the Rapton with all the ease of a practice fighter.

"Heard you were here. We weren't expecting anyone from the agency to look into this for another week."

"Oh, I'm sorry; I just had to come though." Jav tried to swallow the nervousness rising in him. "But if you think about it, a situation like this shouldn't last a whole week just for someone to look into it."

"That's what I thought but they sure take their sweet time at headquarters." The muscular man stepped into the storage room and flicked the lights on. If the guard had seen Jav in the supposedly locked and secure room, he gave no indication of it.

"Whatever these people used to break in fried our cameras, disabled all locks, burned out the generators. The film we got before they burned out was unreliable at best, but you will see what I mean when you get the time to review the files. You probably have a lot to do so I will get a copy of everything. "

"I don't follow schedules when it's this serious..." He grumbles and tries not to back up at the sight of the man and the lights turning on. "And take your time though since I have a feeling this place is under a little more than just slight chaos with what happened."

The dark skinned man chuckled and pocketed a heavy set of keys he'd been carrying. "I'm not supposed to leave you unattended but you look like you came a long way so I'll let that go for now, just don't let my superiors catch you in here. I'll get a copy of the tapes and the report so you can finish looking around here." The dark man put a hand on the knob and opened it slightly. If the cameras here had been fixed, he'd be in some deep horse apples with his supervisors for leaving a civilian in a sensitive area un attended.

The Rapton groaned after the man left and took the time to look around the room to keep up with his 'job' of ferreting out what happened here. There were footprints in the light coating of dust that could belong to anyone and without the right tools he couldn't get fingerprints from anything, not that he even knew how to get them or what to do with such prints if he had them. The camera in a corner of the room looked perfectly fine on the outside but it was too high up the wall for Jav to take down and crack open to see if the wires inside were intact.

Something caught the imposters' eye and he slowed to a stop between one of the pallets and the door he'd entered. There was a dull glimmer on the floor behind the door, which was oddly out of place. He knelt and reached for the piece of metal and pulled it into the light to get a better look at it. Brushed steel glowed dully on one side and the other was charred black in curved and straight lines to form a distinct pattern.

"It's...burnt?"

A circle had been burned into the four-inch square bit of metal with lines inside it making an abstract butterfly. The metal didn't match anything in the room and it placement, both out of the way and purposefully face down, suggested that it was meant to be found by those that had been looking for anything out of place beyond the missing drives.

Jav slowly tilted his head before slipping the item into his coat pocket; he could only wait for the man to return now, muttering to himself quietly. With a pilfered bit of metal in hand and forged authorization, it was in the Raptons' best interest to get his tail out of here before the jig was up.

A few minutes later, the black skinned man came back with a sealed folder in hand, a disc in an envelope, and a clipboard. "You'll have to sign for these," the man looked Jav over and grunted. "Hope you find something useful, there's talk about getting fired if you were working when the stuff was taken."

Jav firmly sat on his paranoia and nervousness and scrawled his name on the bottom of the forms that would prove he had been here under false pretenses and taken copies of sensitive information with him. It was going to hit the fan like a flood when the Agency found out they had been duped.

The man looked at the signature and a smile flew across his face. "Guess they're serious to know where those parts went if they sent you here, Mr. Rapton." He handed over the packets and held the door open for Jav. "Tell that girl of yours to be careful, everything about this stinks."

Jav was speechless, raising a finger in silence before finally cracking a question. "How do you know me...or us in that fact?"

"Corporal Dan Hammond formerly of the US Army, I arrived during the fight with the Auditor. Read about you in the paper around that time; sadden me to no end to hear everything you worked for was destroyed."

"You do realize I was supposed to be dead around that time...right?" He crossed his free arm with an arching eyebrow. "And from what I knew I wasn't praised, in fact the exact opposite during that time in the paper." He sighed and looked at the envelope and folder.

"The papers are controlled to show what politicians want them to show. There were enough people around where I was stationed that spoke well of you. So I did some thinking and decided that anyone that well regarded by civilians cant be as bad as those fat cats in the state government made you out to be."

"Guess the three of us have done something worth being remembered. I better get out of here before someone who doesn't think of us as friendly calls for back up...nice meeting you, Mr. Hammond." He bowed slightly and walked out of the room with the files under one arm.

"Take care, sir."

"You too, Mr. Hammond, and keep well." He hurries out, relaxing only slightly.

\~-.-~/

Auditor stared at the ceiling of the little hospital room he was in and resisted the temptation to reject the injuries his Skin had taken. The doctors were observing him to make sure the knife hadn't cone more damage than they first thought. Hospitals were the last place he wanted to be with the sensitive equipment and the various specters that inhabited them. It wasn't just specters though. There were minor horrors and demons that preyed on the unfortunate souls that were kept here or that were too ill to stay home.

He flicked his eyes to the door as one of the more disturbing specimens looked into his room. Its eyes were glazed over and silver with its' lips pealed back and stapled to its cheeks in a permanent grin. Its teeth were cracked and pointed and the things putrid breath washed over the demon as it stepped in to get a better look at the 'human' it saw.

Salvatore shuddered at what he saw and the exiled demon reassured his captive soul that the specter standing over them preyed on children whose life energy it sucked out through their eyeballs. The information didn't help and Auditor twitched as it brought its face close enough to see the plaque on its teeth.

_Does it only feed on children? Can't we stop it?_

Auditor cringed as the things eyeballs extended out of its head slightly and the eyelids morphed into small-toothed mouths. If it was hungry and children couldn't be found, it would feed on others and it could be killed if you knew what to do. They just had to wait for it to be distracted by trying to feed on them before it could be killed and keep it from pinning their arms.

_Feed on us?_

_**Yes, now go ahead and panic for the minor demon Salvatore, it whets the creatures' appetite.**_


	17. Nevada Index Jav Rapton

Nevada Indes

NAME: Jav Adam Rapton

AGE: 54

GENDER: Male

HEIGHT: 5' 3"  
>WEIGHT: 149.20 lbs - 67.6759 kg<p>

NATIONALITY: American

ANTI: UNKNOWN/UNCONFIRMED

STATUS: Unemployed, paying for a house of his own, slightly monitored by the Agency. Was a researcher for a company that fell apart during the Madness. Father of Leri Rapton [link], son of the Gorgon [link]. Considered dead to the general public.

POWERS: None

NOTES: Despite being in Nevada for both wars Jav is remarkably unaffected and shows no special talents or abilities.


	18. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Signs from the Deep

Auditor looked out a window of the cab he'd hailed and watched the world go by. Humans were so blind to what was around them; they lived their entire lives as little more than cows. Different supernatural groups, creatures and organizations used them as food sources and research subjects and humanity found nice neat ways to explain away the deaths and disappearances, just like at the hospital. Since his release the demon had looked into the history of that branch and found that children died there often, usually after seeming to get better.

The wing set aside for children must have been unusually empty of patients for a while if a creature like the one he'd seen several days ago to be driven so far as to attack adults. Those creatures were best known to terrorize critically ill children and suck their life force out, since kids never fought back such monsters usually fed well. They only attacked adults if their usual food was in short supply.

There hadn't been much of a fight, while Salvatore panicked with the creature straddling them and putting its scabby hands on their face to hold their eyes open, the disgraced demon bucked before the creature put its weight down firmly and kept an arm free. The beasts' eye-mouths jerked and latched onto its potential meals eyebrows and small grinding teeth dug into soft human skin.

Once it started to feed, the monster ignored the squirming of its intended prey and paid for it when the Auditor had stabbed his free hand into the creatures' flabby throat and killed it with his short claws. During the night, the creatures' broken body had decayed and dried out until it crumbled into ash and dust and the gentle draft from the open window had scattered it through the room and down the hall. The old saying about ashes and dust was poetically appropriate in the situation and the nurse had looked oddly at him and the mussed sheets before replacing the IV bag with a fresh one.

He snapped out of his daydream and looked at the driver as they pulled to a stop outside the impound where his car had been taken the morning after the incident. The street seemed innocent and devoid of harmful intent. Down the street, the demon saw his car and dug out enough cash from his wallet to pay the aggressive cabbie and tip him before closing the door and watching the yellow car peel away.

"Good riddance, I think you picked up three coats of paint from at least ten other cars."

Auditor let Salvador handle the tedious process of reclaiming their car and tuned back into the world after they rolled out of the fenced lot and down the street which was as far as they could go without checking on Kamar. He got out of the car and opened a small brown bag and put a croissant on the hood before leaning against it to drink the cup of overpriced coffee that had come with the pastry. Humans loved coffee and the store he had visited before hailing a taxi was jokingly praised as being across the street from itself.

He put a Bluetooth headset on and chewed on his own pastry meditatively, dewdrop fairies were quick to take offense and forgive but earning their loyalty and maintaining it was the tricky part. K'mar had been left in the open while in debt to her savior with no way of knowing how long she would be bound of when he would return.

The demon pretended not to notice the small winged woman crawl out from under his car and put a sample of some wine he had found at a liquor store next to the fairies pastry as a silent apology. K'mar looked at the offerings and dove head first into the buttered croissant and tore the little bottle open to knock back the dark liquid inside it. It was custom to offer fairies mead or wine in apology and the dark alcohol in the bottle as a cut above the standard fare.

"You saw the show a few nights ago didn't you Kumar?" Silence greeted the demons question but he didn't expect one either, the poor fairy was mute and lucky to be alive after she had been nicked by the Danger Sign. The demon watched a well-dressed youth turn the corner and walk toward the supernatural pair with a grin. As long as you had a headset in your ear or hair long enough to conceal one you could justify schizophrenia in public situations and be accepted as normal provided you did not become violent.

"I hope you'll forgive me for not being able to give you sanctuary, friend. Hospitals have the worst accommodations and the Ward around the house is still a bit dodgy where you are concerned."

By that time, the youth had approached Auditors car and looked at the demon skeptically until he noticed the headset, the young man had one of his own and the two looked at each other for the barest of moments before looking away. So oblivious, so innocent, so very dead if that boy had noticed the food on the hood disappearing of its own accord. Humans were truly amazing in how dense they could be.

Auditor dug around in a pocket and pulled out the last gift he had for his little friend and put it down next to the now empty bottle, a swatch of green dyed silk brocade with gold embroidery big enough to make a fairy-sized garment and a needle made of pure silver. The disguised demon smiled and watched K'mar finish devouring her pastry and throw herself at the last offering.

Half an hour later the unusual pair were driving downhill when the Auditor ran into the very instance he kept the dewdrop fairy with him at all times when driving. After he had pushed on the gas pedal and pulled his foot back the pedal stayed on the floor, it was a design flaw that was known with the car he bought. Auditor felt his pulse start to race when the pedal flipped up on its own accord.

It was the fairies limited way to repay her debt since she owed her life to the Auditor's timely assistance and according to the laws of her people; K'mar was bound to repay it since nothing of equal value had been exchanged. Every time he drove, she had a chance to 'save' him a little bit when the pedal stuck; every save earned her a small portion of her freedom. Some would call it extortion but the girl would be dead from the brief contact with the cold iron of Tricky's sign to her throat if he hadn't taken her life into his hands and saved it.

Jav looked from the metal he found at the underground facility to a few books that lay open before him, tired eyes peered over his glasses as he read things over. His father's handwriting was neat and thorough and detailed every subject the elder Rapton had chosen to study and chronicle which made for a truly epic library filled to the gills with every subject you could think of. It had been a few days already and Jav hadn't gotten any sleep during the time, he was too curious about what the symbol meant, something about it was hauntingly familiar.

He reached for the now cold cup and grumbled as he read before taking a sip of the coffee. He shuddered and looked inside of the cup at the bitter dregs left in the bottom before setting it aside with a grimace before flipping the page with a finger. "It has to be in one of these books…"

He looked back and toward the stairs, hoping that his father wouldn't be coming up anytime soon after how long he had been up there without a break. Jav knew that minutes were crucial when it's against the Agency, as much as he hated going against Their will. He nearly dropped the book when he saw something; he held it closer and raised his glasses to squint. It wasn't Gorgon Rapton's handwriting for sure, was this the demon's handwriting? He leaned back, looking at the time before moving to get up.

"Might as well ask about it while getting a warmer cup to stay awake."

Gorgon glanced up from his writing as he heard the slight clack of claws against the hardwood floor. "What's the matter, son?" His voice showed some concern as he saw the bags under Jav's eyes from behind the lens glare. "Where did you get this?" Gorgon was confused until he was handed the book and looking at what his son soon pointed at.

"Oh, that. Something I swiped from the archives back with the Powers. Why?"

"What you have is similar to something I found while at a scene of a certain crime, the one with the Drives?" Jav trails off as Gorgon paled.

"Don't tell me you took something from there, son…" Jav looks away at his father's words.

"What are you…They'll find out won't They?" Gorgon only nodded as the younger Rapton stepped back a few times, he didn't like where this was going. "I didn't – where would be and is this his writing, dad?"

"It actually is his writing, I haven't made anything out of it but I felt the need to put it in his history. I would find him right now, son. I don't know when They're sending to reclaim what They let go." Gorgon watched as his son hurried out of the room, slapping the book shut and setting it on the table before grabbing his keys. There was someone he needed to see, someone who can help him find The Auditor before it was too late.

Auditor pulled the parking brake and smiled at his little friend as she perched on his shoulder with her new outfit. The little Fae had driven a hard bargain but she got exactly what she wanted, a way to sew her garment and to find the demon. He wasn't thrilled with the solution but he could find no reason why his hair couldn't serve both purposes, she had every reason to need to find him and after ending up in an impound she had all the proof she needed.

The wards parted for the pair as Audi pulled out his keys, the key to the wards was on his key chain and he felt the subtle energies inside it vibrate as they teased a small opening in the barrier, he'd enchanted a four leaf clover charm to disable them long enough to let him pass. Val and Amos had similar charms but they didn't understand the importance behind the gifts they had received, not that the wards would hurt normal people but it was bad policy to have your security system go off on you.

As the first person home Auditor had the distinct pleasure of cooking and he relished the thought of putting something together that was lighter in flavor than his former leets normal fare and that had meat in it unlike VALKYRIE's cooking. She wasn't a vegetarian but she didn't use enough animal flesh in her meals unless she was cooking fish but it was easy to grow of seafood.

He watched K'mar flit away to the back of the house and started putting a meal together; it was so comfortable to be alone in a modest house that he could lose himself in a simple task like this. Predictable actions brought about predictable results with little variation unless you choose to change the formula. The demon lost himself in the art of cooking and was startled into jumping when the door to the garage opened.

"Hi Audi. Today kinda sucked so no lip about the nickname okay? Okay." VAL swept by her charge and dropped her bag in the living room.

Auditor could tell from looking that she had the lovely task of teaching young kinetics about their powers since she had the company uniform on and the badge that went with it. Well it wasn't really a uniform it was just a long coat that was baby blue that gave all members of Kenitel a unified look and the badge's color identified the wearer's abilities. Blue was reserved for Telekinetics and there were precious few of those in the world

"So what happened, you don't usually get this distressed about how poorly the kids manage the simple task of moving a penny." The demon tuned the heat down on the stove to let the vinaigrette simmer and poked his head into the living room to find the small woman sprawled gracelessly on the couch with an arm over her eyes.

"It wasn't the students today; it was something a heck of a lot worse and everyone's at a loss. You know the Gates right?"

The demon nodded and retreated to the kitchen to get Valarie a glass of iced tea and to stir the sauce to prevent scorching before taking a seat in the living room to continue the conversation. "You mean the Psi Gates Kinetell has been installing up and down the coast in case of emergency evacuations?"

"The very ones." she took a swig of the tea and made a face since Auditor hadn't sweetened it at all, by design rather than by accident. "One's gone missing from our warehouse in the valley."

Salvatore chattered in the demons head and Auditor tried to ignore the babbling about two warehouse thefts being connected since there was no proof at the moment but it did make him wonder since the Gates and the Drives weren't casually stored or installed.

"Did the Corps get in?" The Psicorps were the European counterpart to Kinetell and waged a cold war against the Americans for dominance, with mixed results. Mostly the Corp were seen in a negative light outside their immediate sphere of influence and Talents that managed to escape took refuge wherever they could to avoid capture with stories about their time in the main facility located in Germany. It was similar to the horror stories that came from Germany during World War II with how they treated people with Talents but it was something that normal people just didn't hear about.

"No, it would have been a hell of a lot easier if they had." Auditor watched a clipboard and pencil careen across the room and into the kinetics lap and stayed quiet for a moment while the girl started drawing without looking at the page. It was Valaries' way of capturing a memory on paper and it was a talent she did surprisingly little to maintain.

"All we know about it really is that the proximity sensors died then all of a sudden the lights went out, everything went out from phones to computers at the same time. And then everyone started going to sleep. Those of us that know how to fight stuff off did what we could but it was really fast, I only had enough time to feel two people in the building that shouldn't be there and see one of their faces, before I passed out."

Now Auditor had to admit that the similarities between this theft and the one the Agency suffered with a sense of foreboding. As far as he knew the Gates and Drives were incompatible but his design was alterable, the unknown in linking the two together were staggering and the demon swallowed a knot of uncertainty before talking again.

"Everything and everyone turned off and passed out at the same time?"

"Yeah, it was so weird and it's been just a nightmare trying to straighten everything out, they better pay me overtime for this mess." Val opened her eyes and frowned at the face she'd been drawing and tipped the clipboard on the couch absentmindedly.

Auditor felt his stomach drop to the floor as he looked at a very familiar face from his past, an old associate he knew and respected. If he was involved in the thefts then things were going to start going to Hell very quickly and humanity was going to have even less time to set up a counter offensive against the second Rank than they had with the fourth. Even worse, the thief was more than capable of not being seen which made Val's statement of having SEEN this supernatural being highly alarming.

"What's wrong Audi? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Maybe I have VALKYRIE, maybe I have." The demon shook his head and stood up, this was getting very serious and he needed time to think about the implications.

A man cringed as he was cleaning the shades he had, the sound of his master's yell was enough to make him frown. "I'm going, just hold on." He muttered a few times before pressing a button on his sleeve and a couple of other men perked up nearby while others trembled and looked around.

"Repossession of the demon is the plan." He growled, staying back for a bit longer after the other three hurried off. The eyes gave a faint glint behind the glasses before he started walking, a sneer starting to form at the thought of the Auditor walking freely instead fo beign caged like the demon should always be.

Elsewhere a young man with dirty blonde hair looked through his binoculars at the house, it had been a hectic fifteen minutes to get in position to track the demons movements but it paid off with this view of his house from a nearby business complex. He didn't blink as the demon left the relative safety of the house he stayed in with the white rat he kept and the youth sighed, the dog was going to complicate things if the Proxies went wild.

"P-body to Eagle 1, the targets walking his mutt, just left his house."

The commanding officer closed his eyes at the sound of the voice in his ear piece. "Roger that, P-Body. Keep locked on..." He muttered before giving a low whistle, getting two of the Proxies to glance back while the third stopped in his tracks.

"Ignore the mutt, fellas. Go for the bigger prey." He growled before rubbing the marking on his neck, it was already burning from taking too much time.

"Roger that Eagle 1, I won't lose him." The youth looked through his binoculars again and tracked the targets movements through the neighborhood and smirked, he'd watched the inhuman creature for months now and he knew that the demon was going to be out of the house walking his pet for an hour and a half judging from the path he was taking through the neighborhood. There were also a few places the Proxies could collect the target without raising any alarms on the projected route. Hell, he could even see the Proxies taking their positions.

The commander took off the glasses, eyes trying to focus as a few were of his men started muttering to each other. It wasn't long before he got the men in place, a slight glare forming as he snapped his fingers quietly upon seeing the demon. Soon enough they got situated, one's hands clenching at the thought. "We're to retrieve, not maul. Unless he puts up a fight." They nodded as the words registered quickly in their mind. The Proxies were well placed, even hidden in a way that they could slip by anyone without being noticed.

Deeoh stopped in his tracks and growled at the sidewalk ahead with his hackles raised, the animal couldn't see anything but it could feel the wrongness lurking nearby. The terrier barked and backed into his owners' legs and pushed back against it until the demon stood still and blinked at his pets' odd behavior.

"What's wrong Deeohgee, do you see that one cat again?"

The commander grimaced, that mutt was going to mess with their plans. He gave a throaty growl as he heard one of his men mutter a question. "Just wait it out, get too thrilled and we'll lose him..." He snarled quietly, and went quiet as he felt Auditor's gaze pass over him a few times.

"Come on Deeoh, I'd rather head back before it gets dark." Auditor nudged the dog in the backside and tried making the animal go forward only to have Deeoh try to dart across the street and in front of a car. The demon pulled the dog up short and turned his back to the waiting agents to address the terriers' strange behavior. Right as Auditor turned around; a lone Proxy sneered and rushed at the demon, something was in this one's hand. He didn't even listen to the commander's growl to return to his position in his ear to back down. The target was FAR more important than the voice in the earpiece.

Auditor heard and felt a presence closing in on him and turned to see the Proxy rushing at him, he tuned and felt shock and surprise as the brown eyes he wore shifted to red. It looked like a normal human but he could feel the odd energy, Their energy around his attacker. Shock and fear were replaced with panic and fear while his furry companion turned and barked furiously at the end of his leash, if he got grabbed they would start subduing him.

"Not going to happen!"

The enhanced man chuckled, stopping short but a thumb pressed the button to activate the targets collar with the remote in his palm and the Fallen felt a harsher than normal shock, the sensation even caused his knees to buckle. "You're coming back with us, pal." He said with a slight growl in his tone, glancing back with a look that showed he wasn't amused at the barking orders he received. His commanding officer had even used his birth name but he wasn't Alan anymore.

Auditor fell to his knees and the leash fell from his fingers as his companion attacked the Proxies ankles fiercely with all the strength the purebred could muster. The shock was nothing new to him but the strength behind it left him numbed and a little weak. It had been such a surprise that the demon hadn't even tried to cry out, he just stiffened while the current played with his nerves and collapsed once it stopped paralyzing him.

The man growled like the dog now attached to his pant leg and shook his leg to shake off the biting canine. "He's all ours, men. They'll be thrilled to see you again." He gave a chuckle, grunting as he finally tried to reach down and grab his prey's dog around the collar.

Deeoh yelped and pulled back against his collar to get free while still growling for all he was worth. By now the demon had recovered enough to let loose a growl of his own and he extended his short claws through the Skin to stab the Proxy in the arm to free the terrified dog from its grasp. Attacking these people wasn't a good idea but the demon couldn't just roll over and let them collect him either.

"Don't touch him!" The enraged Fallen gathered his dog for a second and pushed the shuddering animal behind him and out of danger before lunging again.

"Stay down; your precious mutt will be safe as you are the main reason we're here after all." The agent only kicked Auditor back down to the ground and challenged the beast to get buck up again with a growl.

Auditor took the hit and bounced back onto his feet with the collar blinking a warning to the Proxy, the wearer was pushing the limits of the suppression collar and even if that warning wasn't enough the fangs showing in the demons mouth surely were worth taking note of. The red eyed being lunged and sank those fangs into the Proxies neck while digging his claws into its arms to keep the super soldier from bringing the remote back into play if possible.

Alan forgot about the dog completely in favor of fighting off the demon that now had his neck in his mouth. Though it did scare him a bit and the glowy eyed man tried to push him off with a forced growl. The Proxy could only hope that his fellow agents would come and help but they didn't seem to be coming up anytime soon.

Auditor growled and tore his teeth free , this grapple wasn't good in a fight and released the helpless agents neck before kicking the Proxy backwards to the area Deeoh had been growling at, now the dogs refusal to move made sense. As if on cue the dog started barking up a storm just beyond his owners reach and the leash flopped across the ground uselessly like a snake with its head cut off.

The bleeding Proxy couldn't keep the snarl down, eyes flickering a bit as he had to keep down the sudden urge to lash out as he held his neck after tumbling back onto his backside. He didn't know that the remote had been dropped since the attack did stun him when he'd been forced to change his priorities.

"You came prepared enough to get me to my knees, puppet, but you weren't ready for me to fight back? They need to send better trained Proxies if the Agency intends to drag me back without a fight! Deeoh, andare a casa e Valarie!" The dog whimpered and ran down the street back to the house with his collar jingeling like a bell with the lead flapping on the ground. With Deeoh gone Auditor could focus on making this Proxy pay for attacking, he took a meditative breath and took a stance with his hands held in front of him \ in an immitation of amos' prefered martial arts style.

Alan unleashed a dry, raspy chuckle and got up though he was still hunched over, nearly empty eyes showing anything but that for once. "You really think .that you can take on all of us?" The smile was nearly blood chilling while another growl rose. A few more Proxies finally reared their heads, stepping out of their spots. A few flickers of light was seen behind the glasses as they all shared a glare for the demon.

"I think I can, I've taken on more people before. I bet I can even kill one of you without setting the collar off, all I need is an opening and one of you will die today." The demon felt a thrill he hadn't had in years as a smile spread across his face, three Proxies would be a challenge but he was up to it even if it meant he would have a thin time at the Agency Headquarters. On that note how was it that no one was noticing the fight? The Higher Powers must be meddeling somehow.

The commander glanced around before rushing from his group, actually being the first to try and land a blow on the demon for attacking an agent of his. Something felt off though as if the collar was weakening, let alone the feeling that there was one other there besides Auditor and the proxy group. One of them perked up while the others kept their gaze and attacks on the demon.

Auditor snarled and lunged at the commander, if this one wanted to die then so be it! He used his dominant hand to lightly touch the humans arm and used the mortals own rush to help him overshoot the mark and tripped the human up before sending him along the way down the sidewalk. He was flanked on both sides now but it was the way he was most familiar to fight with.

"Too slow, human. Far too slow if you were trying to do more than dance with me." The commander skidded along the sidewalk and rolled to his feet, glasses crunching under his foot as a dry chuckle escaped. "I think you've gotten the wrong thoughts, buddy boy." The empty pupils dilated as he cracked his knuckles.

Something seemed way off from the sound of metal and bone clicking into place from his hands. "Sometimes, reviving has its ups and downs. I say it does have more of the pro as it gives us a chance to get stronger. " He explained as he got closer, the others keeping a close proximity around the demon but not trying to attack. "And you're just doing us a favor if you kill us, just a heads up."

"Everybody wins then! I get a good solid meal, you get to meet oblivion, and They reduce the number of puppets they have since They never cared about you in the first place. I'm glad you all attacked, I haven't played as much as I like to." The demon shifted his stance and held his hands stiffly like they were an extension of his forearms before rushing the commander.

The commanding agent gave a snarl, suddenly lashing out with his arm. The feeling of metal was felt in the impact. "Back down..." He suddenly glanced around; the sound of a gunshot was heard nearby while the others tried to grab the demon. "What was that?"

Auditor grabbed the commanders' arm after being blocked and used the mortals' moment of distraction to sling him into the air and into one of his subordinates. That gunshot sounded close and if it was Proxy reinforcements then he was going to have to cut and run instead if ending the lives of his would be captors. They really hadn't come prepared for the fight; they should all rush at once and hope to get lucky with the collars suppression system.

The two struggled to get up, the only one standing looking around in confusion. They could suddenly hear a voice, one that Auditor would find familiar. "I knew I was too late but not that late." The voice growled in the commander's earpiece from its resting place on the ground after it had been knocked out from the toss.

"Jav?" The demon backed away from the Proxies and looked around for the source of the voice without losing sight of the agents. No Rapton lived in the area so to hear one was unusual, more so since it wasn't Leri.

"I'm nearby, Auditor. Caught the roach that told them where you were."

The commander rushed to grab the ear piece only to knock it toward the demon by mistake. "Son of a..." He growled and shot a venomous glance up at Auditor after nearly smacking face first into his leg just trying to grab the item. Auditor snatched the earpiece from the ground and skipped backwards out of the commanders reach before putting the blue tooth device on as if he owned it.

"Long time no see, Jav. Tell me, what have I done to get YOU to come and save me instead of your daughter?"

"Oh, she doesn't even know I'm here. I just have something I need to talk to you about. Careful, enraged freak to your right." Right as Jav spoke the commander lunged again, pulling his arm back to throw a punch.

The demon chuckled and grabbed the commanders leading arm and used the man's own momentum to avoid being grabbed and slung the enhanced man over a shoulder and onto his back with a satisfying excess of force. It was so easy to take them on one at a time but it wasn't as fun as taking on a group, Auditor looked the Proxy in the eye until he felt the knifes edge of a Soulgaze coming on and tore his gaze away to challenge the other men from the Agency.

The others shared a growl with one tearing his glasses off before rushing in to grab the resistant target. It was aware that everyone was getting irritated and he pulled an arm back to slam a metal hand into the demon's neck only to latch on and hold him. The target didn't have time to recover from the sudden attack before the subordinate pulled the wretched monster backwards and away from the commander. The commander let loose a slightly pained chuckle, slowly rising from the ground.

Auditor felt heat rising on his skin and tried to pry the hand from his neck unsuccessfully. If he didn't get the second guy off quickly, there was a good chance he'd get his arms pinned and then he'd be in a VERY difficult position with four Proxies surrounding him. The demon leaned forward away from the Proxy behind him and powered up as much as he dared to and muttered a single word that would get him loose.

The Fallen held his breath and for a moment nothing happened though the air felt heavy with the energies put into motion. Auditor felt himself being pulled backwards again and those fingers digging into his pseudo flesh before that flesh exploded outward, without constant energy fueling it the Skin lost cohesion and color to become the ectoplasm it truly was. Clear goop covered everything within five feet of the demon and exiled Rank was able to get free of the metal hand on his neck.

The commanding officer's eye twitched as the other three grimaced at what just happened, they could all hear from the earpiece that even Jav groaned at the scene. "I would've tried to break the hand but that's just me." He muttered, glad he was away from the five foot radius. He had left the rat with a nice lump and hauled his tail to the neighborhood his daughters' unlikely friend was fighting in to offer any assistance he could.

One of the Proxies had recovered quickly though, seeming to have had something like this happen before as he tried to grab the demon again. The empty eyes on this one wasn't empty anymore, rage had welled up from the sight of the smoke rising from some of the metal constructs on his own person.

"Deactive individual. Have fun mauling them, Auditor." Jav's voice rang again in the earpiece.

"Now that the dead weight is off I plan to! HAVE AT THEE!" The demon growled and slashed a hand across the air in front of him with a word of power and the air sizzled for a moment before it boiled into life with an arcing ribbon of flame. The active proxies were forced to defend themselves and while he rushed at the defective one with one hand held stiffly as if it were a blade.

The defective one watched as the others flinched back, the leading officer calling for a retreat though he sounded a bit reluctant to leave without their prey. The one that the demon rushed after stumbled back, only to try and use the dead weight of the unusable arm to slap him back when he got too close.

Auditor angled his body to have the blow bounce off almost harmlessly and stabbed his hand into the defective Proxies chest with surgical precision. Any brute could thrust an appendage into the chest cavity and damage all the organs there but it took an artist to avoid the lungs and cradle the heart in ones fingers. It was like poetry in motion to feel blood soaked organs pumping around his hand and he thought wistfully of a better time, long ago when he had sought only to better himself in a fiery land.

The agent coughed and wheezed in pain but refused to look at his injury, his only thoughts were to take down his enemy. To that end the Proxy raised his foot with monumental effort and raised his foot to kick the black skinned demon away.

The demon held stubbornly onto the heart and let the Proxies effort push him away with the heart still in hand, it was the most stimulating thing the young Fallen had seen since coming to Assiah. A hot heart outside its body with the life blood covering and inside it, it was too much to bear and in a moment Auditor forgot himself and the situation to dine on the sweet treat regardless of who was watching. Humans feared his kind for good reason but if Humanity wasn't so full of energy and easy to hunt then there would be fewer incidents.

With blood on his hands and face the supernatural beast looked at the other Proxies with a hungry gleam and stalked them during their retreat, just one heart wasn't nearly enough. Not after being banished, suppressed, experimented on, and kept on a short leash. He ignored the body now on the ground and started singing an old nursery rhyme that struck him as very appropriate.

"_Three blind mice, three blind mice, See how they run, see how they run,  
>They all ran after the farmer's wife, Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,<br>Did you ever see such a thing in your life, As three blind mice?"_

_Jav watched with interest, not at all deterred from the sight of the dining experience he just witnessed. "Audi, now's not the time for feeding. We don't need Them to send back up." He nearly hissed in the ear piece. The lizard knew these were only rookies from the fear they were exposing, hardened Agents wouldn't let base emotions control them in a fight._

_"Let them! I work better against packs anyway." Auditor licked blood from a hand and kicked the corpse out of his way. Jav snarled and slapped his pocket to hit the button to reactive the collar on the highest setting to make the demonic hunter heel._

_"I forbid you to keep going. I don't want you back in that storage unit."_

_Auditor shrieked as the collar went off and beat a hasty retreat as fast as the shock would allow to get away from the Proxies, damn that Jav! His hunger would have to wait since the collar was working again; next time though he'd kill them all and Powers be damned he'd feast._

_Jav sighed, watching them go and waited for a bit before stepping out of the small weed choked alley he'd taken refuge in to turn down the collar so the Auditor could regain his composure. "I did this for both you and my daughter, damn it. Last thing I need is for her to kill herself trying to save you again." He walked over, looking down at the body._

_Red eyes flashed as Auditor looked at his ruined clothing, a moment of forgetful bliss and he ruins a four hundred dollar suit, go figure. The demon didn't have much time to dwell on his situation when he heard his pets distant bark, Deeoh was coming back with or without company._

_"OH for hells sake not now!"_

_Jav glanced around with a low whistle. "This way, might give you some cover." He motioned toward the shadows nearby before looking toward the sound of Deeoh's barking. From the position of his tail it was clear he was just as nervous as his own daughter would be in a situation like this._

_"Normally I'd put up more of a fight about running away but this time is different. I hope he didn't get her attention." The demon ducked into the shadows and tried to wipe the blood from his hands and onto some plants without success. Even if his companion didn't find his master there was no hiding the heartless body on the sidewalk._

_Jav sighed, eying the body as he put his gun up and away. "Some mess you got yourself in, buddy..." He grumbled. "I don't have the ability to get rid of this body like a certain someone." His ears were back, finding himself unable to run anywhere. Dogs were hard to fool on the best of days and today wasn't a good day._

_"I COULD but I'd get shocked for it." The Fallen sulkily eyed Jav and let his eyes dull to crimson, now the ball was in the Raptons court. They both wanted the same thing and despite the changes Jav was still a man, he could be manipulated and tempted into doing things he might not accept normally._

_"How long do you think it'll take them to get here then?" He couldn't help but shift a bit, hand already slipping over the remote again. "And don't try anything for both of our sake if we have time."_

_"Where's your car? I can get us there insanely fast."_

_The tailed man snorted. "Five blocks from here, beaten truck, not hard to miss really." Something clicked as he pressed the button again, cutting the power to the collar. "I'm not usually one to help in situations like these but I am a Rapton after all..."_

_"And Raptons stick by their friends. Hang on to me then Senior Rapton, you don't want to get left behind." The demon waved a hand at the body and a shadowed portal opened sluggishly under the corpse and swallowed it without a sound leaving only a bloodstain on the concrete. With the dogs excited chatter getting closer Auditor opened a second portal on the tree next to him and looked at it for a second as a light appeared inside it, the exit on the other side. "Now get in and don't look around and don't look back."_

_The tailed Rapton gave a short nod, slipping in while keeping his eyes ahead. He was questioning himself on a lot of things but he just pushed it aside. The pair walked into the blackness on the tree and the portal closed behind them in just as the excitable white dog and Valarie rounded a corner to see the site of the battle. _

_"Deeoh Where exactly did you take me this time? No one's here!"_

_ Auditor kept a hand on the mortal behind him and stepped out of the other portal with a sigh, he had some nasty things stored in the void and if it were just him alone it would be no problem. Having company could complicate the trip if the human had been noticed so he counted it a blessing that they were overlooked._

_ "There, that wasn't so bad now was it Jav?"_

_ Jav just shook his head. "Just not use to that sort of thing, never will be really. But it wasn't so bad." He hummed slightly before looking at his truck. "Is there any place you would like to go and recuperate?"_

_ "First on my list is not looking like I just killed something other than that I could care less"_

_ "I'll take you to my place then so you can clean up then. Safer if you think about it." He glanced at the demon, tail flicking open the passenger side door._

_ "What do you mean safer? As long as they can track me no where's safe." The red eyed creature took a deep breath and summoned raw material from the Nevernever to recreate his camouflage skin so he'd look a little less intimidating and normal despite the blood covering his front._

_ "When I disabled it that also meant that Their tracking system is disabled. You of all beings shouldn't think that They have everything under Their filth ridden hand. Loopholes are found and usually used to even the playing field." He finished his explanation with a chuckle and slammed the driver's door shut before pulling the seat belt in place._

_ "As you can imagine I haven't had much of a chance to dissect the collar to see how it works so how would I know that?" He slammed the door shut and checked himself in the mirror to be sure that the Skin was settled properly into place._

_ "I'm just surprised you didn't think Leri was smart enough to even do such a thing. Sure she made it to help Them but she also made sure to keep you safe despite how much it hurt." The demon sulked and looked out the window, the thought hadn't occurred to him since he knew Them far more than he would ever admit. Jav kept quiet but glanced out the corner of his eye at him. "Is that a pout I see? For once the demon is pouting in front of a mortal?" He arched an eyebrow._

_ "Force of habit, it's been a few years of Them grinding me down. It's always eye opening to realize just how much faith humans put into body language so if you move the right way, they will do almost anything you want them to."_

_ "You have to know that there are still some who are loyal to you and are willing to put their own life and mental ability on the line for you." Jav kicked the truck into gear and pulled into the street, The sooner they got moving the better._

_ "Yes and I wish they wouldn't, they shouldn't throw their lots in with me if..." Auditor felt Salvatore stirring uncomfortably in the back of his mind and bit of the sentence, he had no real proof other than two thefts of equipment, nothing that solidly pointed THAT way._

_ "My daughter quite literally put her health on the line making that collar work the way she knew it should and in a way that They wouldn't find out. Though, I came for you for a certain reason. I know those thefts weren't because of you but I think you might be able to help me understand a few things. You can see that the Agency seems to think so as well."_

_ "Careful what you wish for Jav, you might not like what you get."_

_ "Even if it means it could save your own hide along with a few or several others?" He glanced at the rear view mirror before slowing down and putting the truck in park at a red light. "In that bag is something I found when I snuck into a building for clues, found something I'd like your opinion on."_

"It's not that I don't want to help you but information can be dangerous and paint a target on the back of the one that knows it." The demon stopped and looked at his bloody hand while talking; the blood had risen to the surface of his Skin and tantalized hm with its tangy scent. Without thinking about it he lifted his hand to his face and started licking the blood off it like a cat until there was none left.

"So while you can ask, I can't promise you a straight or clear answer." Auditor watched Jav from the corner of his eye as he cleaned the other hand similarly before turning his attention to his clothes, he wasn't about to suck on his clothes but it was such a shame to let perfectly good blood dry out and become useless.

"Auditor, this family already had a target painted brightly on the back." Jav sighed, leaning on the wheel. "It won't make a difference if you tell me." He reached between them, pulling out the piece of metal and handing it over to his unlikely friend. "I try not to ask too many questions but all I'm asking right now is; what does that symbol mean?"

The demon took the metal and turned it over in his hands to look at the burned symbol. His first thought was to leave Jav out but it was a piece of the puzzle that had bothered him since VAL had come home. The associate she drew wasn't so careless to be seen but the owner of the signature, THEY were sloppy enough to let it happen. He thought miserably of the plan he was supposed to have been working on for the end game of humanity and he gripped the metal so tightly that his fingers hurt; of course his failure wouldn't stop the others. They would continue without him and if he was in their way, or in the wrong place at the wrong time, they would see his end.

"Jav, do you know what you found? This is...it's a Rank signature. Someone like me was in the building you found this, and they might not have been the only one there." He shifted to show it to the Rapton and ran a finger over the curves and lines; it wasn't a typical human signature. It was a glyph that vaguely resembled a rose where his own was far less organic and looked like flat topped mountains.

"Do you know what that means?"

"You know more than me for once. What does this mean?" He leans back, unable to help but feel a bit of worry rising.

"The Book of Revelation, it's not just a child's story. The demoness that made this is already setting the stage for the next phase." Auditor looked sadly at the metal and let it slip from his fingers and fall between the seats.


End file.
